


Our Week Off Together!

by DancinKronoRequiem



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Comedy, F/F, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 125,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26305258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancinKronoRequiem/pseuds/DancinKronoRequiem
Summary: Amity Blight is forced to spend her week-long school break away from her home from an infestation problem. After a chance encounter at the fair, Luz invites her to stay over at her place as the perfect excuse to hang out. Amity reluctantly agrees and is now constantly battling against her emotions of sleeping in the same place with the person she likes while Luz thinks nothing more but a fun sleepover. Perhaps this is a chance for something new to start? Of course, the wild world of the Boiling Isles have more in store for them.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 103
Kudos: 736





	1. First Day, Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is an ongoing story I transferred over from FFN. This story was created right after the episode of "Wing It Like Witches." Therefore the story will be continue as last two episodes of Season 1 has not happened and that Amity has already recovered from her leg injury. There will not be under any circumstances sexual acts between the girls as this is just a fluff-focused story that will tolerate hugging, kissing, or even handholding.
> 
> Special thanks to Solidusgabo and Lexa_Alycia for helping this story with the Spanish parts. For those who have offered to help but has yet to receive a response, please know that I very much appreciate your offer and touched for the generosity from my readers. I will not contact outside of , AO3, and Wattpad to ensure my privacy. Thank you again, you all are truly wonderful!

"All of my training and all of my strength has prepared me for this moment. The test to prove my worthiness as King. I will show them all the fruits of my labor!" The King of Demons arches his arm back and closes his eyes. He takes in a long draw of breath before exhaling, then with all of his might and precision, he releases the orb from his hands.

That proceeded to fly straight over the fish bowls, missing all of them entirely.

"Oh come on!" King shrieked.

The booth attendant lets out a hearty laugh stirring more ire in the tiny demon. King points at the monster and shouts, "This game is rigged!"

"Of course it's rigged, but none of your attempts even attested that!" the man wipes a tear from his eye, "Hearing you scream is making my day, so I'll give you three more tries. Heck, why not five? It's not like you were getting any closer."

King lets out a growl but grabs another ball. Luz walks over holding two ice cream cones just in time to see the ball sail pathetically past it's intended goal and hit the target of the dunking booth across from them.

"Dang it!" King screamed.

"Hey buddy, why don't you take a little break. I got us some ice cream." Luz handed one of them to her friend.

"I can't! This is a matter of pride! And I need to have one of these minions added to my army! We are lacking in Naval firepower, after all."

Luz looks over at the board to the game booth that states: 'Sink the ball into one of the bowls and win a free Piranha (Note: Do not attempt to retrieve the ball from the bowl).'

"Want me to give it a shot? I'm pretty good at these types of games," Luz offered.

"I said it's a matter of pride! This is a battle I have to win," said King.

Luz smiles and decides to go with another approach instead. She makes a curtsy bow and says, "Then, would the Ruler of all Demons prefer to choose me as his champion in this bout?"

King paused and rubs his chin at the idea, "As my champion? You get to fight and I get all the credit? I can work with that!"

Luz hands over her ice cream to King and reaches into her pockets, "How much?"

"Your funny little bone guy has been keeping me entertained for this past hour, so I'll give you three free tries."

"Oh, thanks!" Luz picks up the ball and gauges the distance with her thumb. "Now you see, King. The trick here is that you want to go for an underhanded throw so it'll arc. You got to be gentle."

She tosses the ball lightly with King taking scared licks of both ice creams watching it rise and descend into one of the fishbowls. When suddenly the piranha jumps out of the bowl and smacks the ball with its tail with incredible force back at Luz, smacking her in the head and sending her tumbling to the ground. A shower of papers exploded from her bag she was carrying by the impact.

"Luz!"

The attendant lets out another laugh, "AHAHAHA! _That's_ the rigged part! Ahahahaha! Hooo! I am, like, the worst guy in this fair."

"Are you okay? Is it alright for me to start laughing yet?" King concernedly asked.

"I'm alright…" Luz reassured before looking at the ground of the stuff that spilled from her bag. Her eyes widened when she recognized some of the papers with drawings on them. Magical glyph drawings.

With one of them right underneath of her right hand.

"Uh oh."

The symbol glows before a large column of ice protrudes from the paper and launches Luz into the sky causing others to stare up into the sky in amazement. King calls out for his friend before another volley of the attendant's laughter draws his attention.

"I didn't know the circus was showing this early! And I got the front seats, ahahahaha-HRK!" The attendant was cut short by a ball launched from King's kick sending the monster falling onto the table full of piranhas which proceeded to attack him.

"I'm coming, Luz!"

Luz screams as she soars through the air. She flails wildly in a desperate attempt to slow her fall as she begins to descend upon a certain, familiar someone.

"Amity!? Lookout!" she cries at the person who perked up from her name and turns just in time to get tackled from the human girl. The two crashes to the ground together against some nearby barrels. Amity slowly rose up with a barrel over her head and slowly raised it to see Luz splayed over her legs.

"Heyyyyy, Amity. Fancy meeting you here."

"You!? Why are you always up to something dumb!?" exclaimed Amity.

Luz felt her blood freeze at the sight of her face. Unlike the red face she made to her before when her twins roped her into taking her diary, her eyes burn with anger and have slightly dark color under them. She only saw Amity this angered once when she attacked Hooty. "Sorry! I'll get off! I'm really sorry!"

Amity looked like she was about to say something else but she stopped herself and took a deep breath. Her angered expression shifts into a tired, regretful tone. "No, that was out of line for me. You wouldn't do something like that on purpose. I'm really sorry."

"Hey, it's my fault on this one." Luz admitted as she helps Amity up to her feet, "Is something wrong?"

Amity groans, "No… Actually, yes. I haven't had much sleep last night. My home got an infestation problem."

"Eww! Rats?"

"Worse, Skull Screamers."

"Ahh…" Luz nods, "... the what?"

"We can't stay until the exterminators finish, and that could take days or nearly a week. We're spending our nights at a hotel but I hate it. It's too close to the city and Emira and Edric got nothing better to do than to bother me! And since school is out for a week, I got nothing better to do than to get tormented by them!"

"Can't you stay with one of your friends?"

Amity scoffs, "You mean with those girls? I could hardly stand them at sleepovers. When they're not playing or practicing spells they get on their phones and call people losers. And they do it a lot..."

Luz awkwardly goes to scratch her head knowing it probably involves her and Willow but doesn't bother to press. An idea came to her and formed a smile across her face, "Well, what about my place?" she suggests.

Amity freezes and feels a wave of heat washing over her cheeks, "W-what?"

"Stay over at my place! We're not close to some noisy city or have annoying, bored siblings."

"You want me to… spend a week. At your place. With you?" Amity repeated before she could stop herself from over clarifying.

"That is how it works, yes," Luz said innocently.

"I-I-I-I can't! I mean, I like you-TO, go with you. To your place. To sleep. Over." Amity's face couldn't be more distinguished to a tomato right now.

Though despite the strange exchange of words, Luz shrugs it off, too excited at the idea of inviting her over at her place. "If you want to go, then why not? I know my place is like a cesspool of strange, but you learn to get used to it."

"What about that Owl Head creature?"

"Oh, Hooty is not that bad… as long as we lock the windows. But think of it! We can hang out together, talk about Azura, and dress King in silly outfits!"

King arrived just in time to hear the last part and decided to hide into one of the barrels instead.

"That does sound like fun… I think? But my parents don't even know you and I don't think they'll-"

Luz interrupts with, "You don't exactly have to tell them."

Amity widens her eyes, "You're saying I should _lie_ to my parents?"

"I wouldn't call it lying, you could just tell them you're going to stay over at a friend's place. We _are_ friends, aren't we?"

Amity smiles but it quickly fades as she gives it some more thought. She shakes her head, "I shouldn't… if my parents find out they'll-"

"Oh come on, Mittens, quit being such a party-pooper." Amity's face turns beet red and swivels to her brother and sister. "H-how long have you two been listening!?" she snapped.

"Long enough to satisfy us annoying, bored siblings," said Emira, casting a smirk at Luz who shrank into her hoodie. "You're not going to deny your friend's kind invitation just because of what Mom or Dad thinks, are you Mittens?" asked Edric.

Amity let out a growl, "Is this just your way of getting me into trouble?"

"No, this is our way of doing you a favor."

"Huh?"

The twins wrap their arms around both sides of Amity's shoulders, "You've been getting too stressed lately and you're way too young for that. Just take the offer and relax, we'll cover you if our parents ask," said Edric.

"You… you guys would do that for me?" Amity asked.

"Of course," Emira cups Amity's cheeks together with her hand, "Anything for our little, baby sis."

"It's also no fun when you're acting too serious at our pranks."

"I'm always serious."

"We know."

"So, what do you say?" Edric and Emira forcibly turn her directly back at Luz currently peeking from her hoodie. Amity blushes before pulling herself free from them. "I'll go! Okay?" she said with her arms crossed.

Luz grabs her hands and bounces up and down, "Yes! This is going to be so much fun! You know where I live, right? Just swing by when you're ready and I'll show you around!"

"O-oh, alright," Amity withdrew her hands and folded them behind her back, "I'll be there in a few hours. And, thank you Luz."

"For~?" Edric shouted.

"Shut it!" Amity scolded before stomping away with her giggling siblings. Luz waved goodbye to them as King walked up with two, half-eaten ice cream cones.

"Huh, so when did Eda give you permission to invite people over?"

"Since never," Luz replied. A few seconds passes before the realization kicks in. "Oh my gosh, EDA!" the girl runs off leaving King behind who waves both cones at her. "Wait! I still haven't finished yours yet!"

~/~

"Eda!" The Owl Lady waves her hand at her excited apprentice from her lawn chair without taking her eyes off of her book. Her wave transitioned into drawing a magical glyph just before Luz trips over a rock stopping her body midfall.

"Thanks!" Luz said before the magic dissipates letting her still fall to the ground.

"You're welcome, now what's got you hollering? Did something happen at the fair? What did you or King do this time? And do we _have_ to fix it?"

Luz pulls herself from the ground and spits out, "Nothing like that. Can Amity stay over our place for a few days?"

Eda looked up from her book and took off her reading glasses, "Who?"

"Amity Blight," Luz answers as she stands up and dusts herself off, "You know, my archrival-who-is-actually-a-kind-misunderstood-girl-who-is-now-my-new-friend? We went to Grom together."

Eda just stared back.

"... she was the girl who ruined Willow's memories that you sent us both into to fix? And the one who challenged me to a duel that your sister ruined by cheating?"

"... she's the short one with the big nose, right?"

"Eda!"

"Oh relax, I know who you're talking about," the Owl Lady placed her book down and stood up to stretch. "Ain't sleepovers usually just for one night?"

"Her home got infested with Skull Screamers and her parents just left her in a hotel all by herself. It's already bugging her and I really want to help. Also, what are those? Should we be concerned about our home too?"

"It's sickeningly sweet of you to offer but I don't know, Luz. The nature of my curse might complicate things and… I haven't been too _great_ at keeping it at bay. I don't want to scare your friend off or do something worse," Eda said as she places her hand on her shoulder, "But more importantly, mama's already lost most of her privacy. I don't just lay low for the heat, you know?"

"Well… what if I told you that I sorta, kinda, maybe already invited her and that she'll be here in about three hours?"

Eda frowns, "I'd be pretty furious without you checking with me first… and kind of proud of that rebellious soul of yours. Alright fine, but I better not have anything missing when she leaves. It's always the pretty ones you gotta watch out for, I should know."

Luz lets out a squeal and pulls Eda in for a hug, "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Imma go clean up the place! OH, should we make something special for her tonight? What kind of games do you think she'll like to play? Or maybe we can-" Eda draws another magic glyph and levitates Luz's body to the house as she continues rambling on before Hooty slams the door closed.

"Hoot! Hoot! A slumber party! Oh I'm so excited! What should I wear? Are we going to roast marshmallows? Or play hide and seek? I'm really good at that game, here watch! One, two, three-"

Eda turns to see King just showing up with both ice creams in his hand. She grabs them from him and sticks them each of them to her ears. 'Hey!" he protested.

"Can't hear you, having an earfreeze," she said while returning to her book.

~/~

A couple of hours passed after King settles down onto the couch with a pot of tea and watches his human friend going through stages of emotion. The first hour, she could hardly stay in one spot. Bouncing up and down and kept talking about the things they'll do together. By the second hour, her excitement died down but she kept looking out the window wondering if she should've gotten her directions to the house.

By the third hour, Luz is slumped against the front door with her hoodie pulled over her head. "Was I too forward? Her family is rich and she gets to stay at a hotel and I invited her over to this place? Dang it, Luz! What were you thinking?"

"What's the big deal if she doesn't show up? It's more snacks for us!"

"There are better things than snacks, King."

"Impossible!" he cries.

Luz squeezes her legs to her chest. "I never got invited to sleepovers or have friends that wanted to stay at my place. I really want to make a good impression but I don't really know what friends do at each other's places."

"You're just overthinking it, Luz," Eda says as she came down from the stairs, "Sleepovers is just another word for freeloading with friends. Just do what you both like to do."

"Have you ever had sleepovers, Eda?"

"Do prison cells count?" Luz frowns. She looks over Eda and notices the coat and her staff she has on her, "Are you heading out?"

"My elixir supply is getting low, so I'm going to make a run to stock up for the week while your friend is over. I'll be back in the morning so you'll be in charge for the night. I don't want anything broken, and anything that was broken to stay that way. I'm still searching for the warranties-"

A sudden scream cuts Eda short from the outside. Luz jumps to her feet and stares at the door as she recognizes the sound. "Hooty?" Luz reaches out but is suddenly yanked back by Eda who assumes a battle stance with her staff. "Stay behind me, kid! There are only a few things out there Hooty is afraid of."

Eda cautiously approaches the door as Hooty continues to shriek. She rests her hand on the knob and turns to the others to give them a silent nod. After counting to three, Eda yanks the door open and points her staff out ready to conjure a spell.

Only to see it was Amity plugging her ears trying to shout at Hooty over his screams.

"Would you quit doing that and just bring out Luz already-ah!" The green haired girl blushes upon seeing everyone staring at her. "Uh… hi?"

"Get her away from me! Hoot! Hoot!" Hooty shouts before resuming his terrified screams. Eda pulls Amity inside and slams the door shut.

"Amity!" Luz closes in for a hug.

"No, wait give me a second to-oh!" the girl squeaked as Luz wraps herself around her, "O~kay, it's already happening…"

Eda snorts and chuckles to herself, "Man, I haven't heard Hooty freaked out like that since that one time I put a mirror in front of him. Oh, man…" Eda checks the time and pulls her hood over her head. "Love to stay and chat, but mama's gotta get her fixed so I'll make this quick. Welcome to the Owl House home to the greatest witch, yadda yadda yadda, mi casa is mi casa so behave yourselves and Luz is in charge. If something dangerous happens, hide til I get back." She opens the door again as Hooty resumes his scream and slams shut with a wave, "Bye now!"

"Wait, where is she going?" Amity asks.

"Uhhh… you know, wild witch things?" Luz shrugs, "She'll be back tomorrow."

Amity's heart starts pacing. The first night. Just the two of them. Together. Inside the same house. Where they'll both be sleeping in. Together.

 _Why did I agree to this!?_ Amity thought to herself.

"Amity? Earth-err, Boiling Isles to Amity? You there?" Luz asks while waving her hand over her face.

"Who? Oh! Yeah, sorry I'm just… REALLY tired! And hungry! For food! To eat, you know, and I'm just gonna stop talking."

Luz raises an eyebrow at her for a bit before breaking into a giggle. She pokes at her with her elbow causing another squeak coming out of her, "Well, why didn't you say so? Come on, let me show you around and where you'll be staying. Then we'll make something to eat."

"Hold it right there!" King stomps on his foot in front of the two girls.

"Oh, I haven't properly introduced you yet. Amity, this is my adorable bestie, the King of Demons. King, you remember Amity right?"

"Oh, I remember alright… she stepped on one of my offerings from that Covens place! Cupcake Killer!"

"You still remember that…" Amity uneasily tugs on her own arm at the memory.

"King!"

"No, it's alright," Amity goes down to her knee in front of him, "Hey I'm really sorry about what I did that day. It was wrong of me." She reaches into one of her bags and pulls out a single wrapped cookie, "It's not the same but I hope you'll accept it as an apology?"

"Hmm," King takes the cookie and inspects it closely. "Your offering will suffice for now. GR-NAH!" He bites into the plastic and tears it open before running off to enjoy his snack.

"Three more of those and he might even let you hold him," Luz whispered to her.

"You think? I mean, not that I care of course." Amity scoffs while watching the adorable demon chewing the cookie and licking the chocolate on his paws. She really regrets not bringing more with her now.

"Come on, let's get rid of those heavy luggage." Luz grabs Amity's hand who jolts from her touch before getting dragged hurriedly to upstairs.

_Calm down, Amity! This is just like those slumber parties. A week of this with her isn't a big deal. Nothing will change! Nothing at all… nothing…_

Luz stops before her bedroom and opens it, "Just leave your things here and we'll unpack it later."

Amity gives her room a blank stare then turns to her, "Here?"

"Yup," Luz nods.

"Why?"

"Cause it's where we'll be sleeping, silly."

The word bounces around in Amity's head before hitting the mark. "We are?" she croaked.

"I noticed you didn't bring a sleeping bag with you, you wanna share the bed until we'll find a new one?" Luz offered.

"S-s-s-s-" Amity gulps and clutches at her chest, "Where's the bathroom!? I gotta go!"

"Oh it's over to your-" Luz pointed the direction to which Amity speeds off into and slams the door behind her. "... right."

Amity pants heavily and clutches her rapidly beating heart. _Bad idea, bad idea, BAD IDEA!_ Amity clutches at her head and slid down against the doorway. _Why am I like this? I could barely talk to her now. Maybe I shouldn't have come…_

 _But…_ Amity pulls her head up and rests against the door, _I'm already here and that might just hurt her feelings. And I… don't really want to leave…_

_She doesn't know what's going on. We're just friends. Two girls having a sleepover together. Even if she doesn't understand, it doesn't have to be a bad thing. As long as we're hanging out together._

Amity smiles to herself, now feeling the nerves and jitters subsiding. Her ears pricked and noticed another sound happening in the bathroom during her panic attack. Something splashing. She opens her eyes and stares in disbelief at a long-neck owl head stretching through the bathroom window and currently drinking from the toilet bowl. Hooty stops and looks up to see Amity staring saucers at him for a moment before they both proceeded to scream.


	2. First Day, Part 2

"Tonight on Owl's Kitchen! Our restaurant has received their toughest customer yet. A creature known across the world for his insatiable bloodlust and accurately harsh reviews. His name that brings terror to heroes and chefs alike, The King of Demons!" Luz aims her phone recording to King and chants his name.

"Please, King of Demons is my conquest name. In this place, I am the King of Cuisine!"

Luz brings the wooden spoon to her face as a mic and continues, "All seems lost for our aspiring Chef Luz, but out of the dark clutches of the freezer comes a salmon of hope! When a new chef has entered the fray, Amity Blight!"

King and Luz aim their flashlights at Amity standing next to the stove as makeshift spotlights. She awkwardly waves at the phone recording before asking, "Wait, did you just call me a fish?"

"Did I?" Luz slyly grins, "Guess that makes you a real catch."

King stuck his thumb down and boos as Amity tries stifling a giggle. She takes out her hairband to further pull her hair back, "So, what are we making?"

"I figure we'd start this night with something simple but heartwarming. How does beef stew sound to you?"

"I can work with that," said Amity.

"Okay… minus five points off the get-go," King muttered as he types onto the phone.

"Looks like we gotta try hard to impress," Luz giggles as she dons her apron, "I'll start with the onions. Can you preheat the pan for me?"

"Uh, yeah. No problem!" Amity sheepishly nods and heads over to the stove. She picks one of the steel pans off the rack and places it next to the stovetop. She looks down and stares at the etchings above the temperature dials labeling zero to nine.

"Uh, Luz? What temperature do we need?" she asked.

"Medium low will work," Luz said as she works through the onion with her knife.

"Medium low?" Amity repeated to herself, "Which one is that?" She cranks the dial to one and watches the tiny flames burst to life. Obviously too little to count as 'medium,' Amity decides to gauge the heat and cranks the dial to max.

Resulting a huge column of flame to flare out in front of her. Amity lets out a terrified shout but Luz didn't notice as she starts chopping the onions until King taps on her shoulder and points at the scene. "What the-!? Turn it off!" Luz rushes in and turns the dial down, receding the fire down to its natural state.

"So yeah… that might've been a little too high."

"You think!? Why would it shoot up like that?" exclaimed Amity.

"It is Eda's kitchen," Luz said in a disturbed tone as she stares ahead, recalling many of her terrified discoveries around the house. She shakes her head and asks, "I don't mean to be rude, but have you ever cooked on a stove before?"

"Not… really," admitted Amity as she brushes her hair back, "Our house staff do most of the cooking and chores. I can make campfire meals but even I had help with my siblings."

"House staffs? Like maids and butlers? Haha… you know I keep forgetting how insanely rich you are," Luz chuckles weakly. She takes her cutting board of chopped onions and tosses them into the pan. A thought pops into her head causing another sly smile to play on her lips, "Don't tell me… does Little Miss Perfect here secretly has a Bad Chef trope?"

"Ugh, first off do not call me that! And second, I'm not 'bad' it's just another skill I haven't learned yet. Like advanced magic or laundry."

"You don't know how to do your own laundry?"

Amity's face went red, "Can we get back to the cooking, please!?"

"I'll stop, sorry!" Luz tries to hold back a giggle, "Want to switch then? I'll handle the stove and you can chop up the rest of the vegetables."

Amity agrees and heads over to the cutting board. Luz grabs her wooden spoon mic to stir the onions before looking back just in time to see Amity drawing a magic glyph before her. The knife levitates off the board and is about to strike down until Luz rushes over and grabs it out of the air, "Uh uh! La cocina no es un lugar para jugar! There's a lot of things I'll accept with magic but a flying knife is a no-go, young lady!"

Amity stares back in surprise at her sudden outburst. Luz blushes and lets out a nervous laugh, "Sorry, I helped my mami a lot in the kitchen so a bit of her got rubbed on me. But seriously, no magic for this one. Cooking is the payoff for hard work, after all."

"Ha, didn't think I would ever hear you say no to magic," Amity sighs but nods, "If you insist."

Luz hands her the knife and goes back to the pan. Amity resumes by taking a peeled carrot and starts slowly chopping away. Luz turns her head over her shoulder to check on her again and stares incredulously at the terribly, misshapen cuts of carrots that were coming out. She grits her teeth anxiously, wondering if she should say something about it but can see Amity's face getting more and more frustrated as more pieces came out horribly. Luz couldn't help but let out a suppressed sound causing Amity to stop.

"What?" Amity challenged.

"Nothing!" Luz laughs and quickly stirs the onions, "I was going, 'mmmm!' You're doing great!"

King, on the other hand, frowns at the pieces and holds out Luz's phone to the Voice-to-Text option and loudly states, "It was at this moment I knew that this review was going to be my last, possibly choking to death on a jagged carrot. I'll leave all my belongings to the first person to give it a thumbs up."

"Oh come on!"

"It's okay, they're going to be soft anyway," Luz reassures her.

Amity pouts and tries to carefully go for another cut but her angle shifts and cuts away another large, slanted coin. She groans, "It keeps coming out crooked..."

"Let me show you something," Luz went around to her side and placed her hands on the counter. "First, you want to change your posture by having one foot out and the other back so you don't have to raise your elbow."

"Oh, like this?" Amity followed.

"Yeah, that's it! See how easier it is to keep it still? Now you want to take your off-hand and make a bear claw grip onto the carrot. You want to use your fore knuckles to guide the blade as you're cutting," Amity looks at her hand and tries to follow her directions. Her hand awkwardly grips down on the carrot and as she tries to go for another cut the vegetable slips out.

"Shoot, let me try that again."

"No worries, here let me show you," Luz gets close behind Amity and takes both of her arms by surprise. Amity let out an involuntarily yelp feeling her head pressing against hers and her hands gently guiding her arms.

"What is happening right now?" Amity asked.

"Progress, madam," Luz answers, unaware of Amity's reaction, "Just hold it like this and let the knife do all the work. It helps if you would loosen up a little."

Amity could barely hear Luz as her skin prickled to the touch of her breath. She stares straight past the cutting board hoping she can't hear her heart pounding away. Despite her condition, Luz manages to guide her stiff hands and makes a clean slice of carrot.

"There you go! See how straight it is?"

"No," Amity squeaked.

"Really? Hm…"

"Oooooh," King calls out from the table, "Looks like things are heating up in the kitchen~"

"W-what is that supposed to mean!" Amity snaps.

"It means your onions are burning," King points to the smoke coming out of the pan. The girls screams and quickly rushes over to salvage the mess.

"Looks like these two are helpless without me coming in," said King, "Eh, I was getting bored playing the savage critic anyways. Unnecessarily angry head chef it is then!" He pulls out a chef's hat and puts it on then points at the girls, "You call this cooking!? I could've sworn you were sacrificing that onion to the chef gods to help you stop sucking at everything!"

"I really should stop him from watching all those online videos," Luz says as she watches King kick the pepper mill off the table.

"WHERE'S THE LAMB SAUCE!?"

~/~

Eda tugs on her hood as the Emperor's Guards walk past her, barely glancing at her direction. She stopped by a corner of a building and watched two other patrols making their routes. "They doubled the security? How wonderful, a night out on the town just isn't complete without the risk of getting arrested…"

The Owl Lady hurries over to the potion shop window and takes a minute to look around. Seeing no guard heading towards her, she bangs against the closed window. "Come on out, Morton! I know you're still living here!" she said.

The window opens and a young man sticks out rubbing his eyes, "Ms. Eda? What are you doing out here at this time of night? I'm not even expecting you until another week."

"Sorry to drop by unannounced, kid, but something came up so I'm going to need to double up on inventory. And make it quick, I got two girls and an adorable idiot I irresponsibly left behind and I don't want to risk getting thrown into the slammer. Speaking of, what's with the alarm?"

"You haven't heard? Some burglar have been going on a streak robbing homes lately. They keep taking random things and haven't been spotted yet. They couldn't get a hold on them and the robber doesn't seem to be slowing down yet."

"Pfft, sounds like an amateur. There's a reason you don't strike while the iron's hot. It's going to get into their head and they'll slip up eventually. Anyways, back to business, you got my juice?"

"Oh geez, I wish you could've contacted me sooner…" Morton disappears underneath the counter and scavenges around for a bit. He pulls out two yellow vials and hands it to her. Eda questionably glances at them then back at the alchemist, "That's it?"

"I told you before that surprise orders don't work. Some guy bought nearly a whole case of them because he's convinced he's been cursed with some deterrent that makes ladies avoid him."

"Well is he?"

"No! But he wouldn't listen to me!" Eda shushes him as another set of guards came by and stopped for a moment to look at them. The two avoided their gaze and whistle together off-sync, causing the guard to shake their disapprovingly head and continue onward.

"Look Morton, this curse of mine is slowly getting stronger. Isn't there anything you can do or know anyone that isn't some dumb pig that has a vendetta against me and my friends?"

"Not this time, I'm afraid. I'll make sure to strengthen the batch but you'll have to come by near the end of the week. You should have enough to hold you over til then, if all goes well. I wish I could do more, really."

Eda sighs and rests her head against her hands, "I know, thanks for everything. Here's a tip for the troubles." She places her cash down and takes the two bottles with her. Morton picks up the money and the piece of paper drawn in crayons.

"'A Free Hug Coupon from your favorite and only apprentice. Only valid once per day…?' Hey wait a minute, this is expired! Oh..."

Eda groans and taps on her staff to let Owlbert free from his pedestal. The little owl flies up to her shoulder and nuzzles against her cheek. She scratches the bottom part of his beak and sighs, "To be honest with you, Owlbert, I just wanted an excuse to get out of the house to let Luz and her friend settle in. Not to mention the noises it might bring… why don't we take a detour and have a little fun?"

Owlbert hoots in agreement and flies into her hair to nest in. Eda was about to depart when she heard a forced cough aimed in her direction. She turns to a mysteriously robed figure waving for her attention.

"I heard you're in dire need of some… procurements?" the husky voiced man said. Eda easily towers over him by a few feet but the stranger has a solid build to him. Whether he's some sort of monstrous civilian or three gnomes in a coat, Eda couldn't tell.

The stranger continues and opens his sack revealing various potions and elixirs, "I have many assortments that might strike you fancy. Hard-to-find ingredients, cheap prices, and admittedly... questionably... illegal substances. I'm sure I could find one that you would need."

"Hmm," Eda frowns and scoffs, "Please, I wasn't born yesterday. This either has staged dealing or malevolent intentions written all over it. And if you're an Emperor's Guard, you are legally obligated to tell me."

"That's not how it works."

"It's not? Huh," Eda scratches her head, "Sorry but I'll take my chances elsewhere."

"Did I mention cheap prices?"

Eda wraps her arms around the hooded man, "You already had me at 'illegal.' So whatcha got, inconspicuous stranger?"

~/~

Amity spits the toothpaste into the sink and rinses out her mouth as she makes glances at the boarded bathroom window. She takes a look at herself in the mirror and sighs, "Stop feeling nervous. You can do this, you are a Blight and there isn't anything you can't do when you put your mind to it."

She pauses and slaps herself on the head, "Great, and now I'm talking to myself. Acting like some sort of giddy little schoolgirl just because of some dumb, cute, and really sweet human girl… Aaand it's getting worse."

The sound of abrupt knocking causes Amity to jump and fumbles with her toothbrush. "Hey! Quit hogging the bathroom with external monologuing! I need to take my bubble bath!" cried King.

"Sorry! I'll be out in a sec!" Amity finishes up and opens the door for King, who is wearing a shower cap and holding a brush in one hand and a rubber ducky in the other. Amity couldn't resist letting out an, "Ohhh~" before she made her way to Luz's bedroom.

Her hand stops right on the doorknob, feeling the butterflies soaring loose in her stomach. She shakes her head and pats at her cheeks. It's nothing, she keeps telling herself, nothing to worry about. Even she was nervous when she first stayed over at Boscha's place. Granted, she didn't even like her. And it is over at a strange house belonging to a wild, outlaw witch.

Even so, Amity really is enjoying her night here more than any of those sleepovers or parties she's been to. All the fun and zany things that are to come will help distract her from these feelings. A little discomfort here and there isn't going to hurt. Feeling empowered, Amity opens the door.

"Welcome back!" Luz waves from the sleeping mat laid out on the floor, wearing a pair of shorts and a night shirt.

Amity stares for a moment then slams the door shut. She takes in a deep breath and exhales with an, "Hoo boy…" then opens it again. "Hey!" she waves, acting like nothing happened. "Is that for me?" she points at the sleeping mat.

"This old thing? Nah, it'll be rude to make you sleep on the floor when I get a bed over here. You can take that one, I'll sleep here," Luz offered.

"Oh, me? On your bed? Haha, you don't have to do that," Amity murmurs out the last part, "at all..."

"I insist. I should have realized how uncomfortable it would have been. It's not big enough for the both of us," Luz admitted.

"Yes! That's the reason! Definitely... so what now?" Amity plops down on the floor with her and eagerly changes the topic with, "Are we waiting for King to come out so we can start dressing him?"

"Nah, he said not tonight. I don't want to turn in yet so… oh! I got a bunch of paper and stuff to write with," Luz beams, "Wanna do some drawings?"

"Sounds fun," Amity agrees and waits for Luz as she goes to fetch the supplies. She glances around the room, looking nearly what she had expected to someone like her with a bunch of junk neatly placed into the far corner. Her eyes stop at a picture stand that has Luz hugging someone who must be her mom.

"That person… your mother," Amity recognizes the woman more clearly, "Didn't she… appear when you were fighting the Grom?"

Luz turns back to the picture she's referring to and loses her smile, "Oh, yeah that's my mami. It's not that I'm afraid of her, I'm just afraid of what she would think."

"Think of what?"

Luz turns around with a bundle of art supplies in her arms and looks off to the side, "Well… Eda sort of kidnapped me… involuntarily."

"... what?"

"Long story short, I'm supposed to be somewhere else back at Earth. To some horrible, boring camp. She doesn't know that I'm in this world. Attending a magic school. And training to be a witch. By a fugitive from the law. So I've been afraid of what she'll think, if she ever finds out."

Amity's problems suddenly felt so small now compared to hers. Keeping secrets from their parents and being afraid of what will happen if they find out. But it's clear to her that Luz's fear isn't what will happen to her but how it will affect her mother's feelings. To think the silliest girl she has ever met would carry such weight with her.

"I wouldn't know really, just from the picture, but I get the sense she really cares about you. She doesn't seem like someone who wouldn't be understanding to your feelings," said Amity.

Luz manages a weak smile, "Yeah, she is actually. Heh, now that I think about it, we're pretty much in the same boat, huh?"

"I agree," Amity smirks, "Since this is technically kidnapping."

"You came here yourself!"

"Yeah, after you attacked me at the fair."

"I said sorry, didn't I?" The two laugh as Luz drops all the supplies between them to get started. They spent nearly an hour showing eachother their drawings and talking about various things from school to mostly Azura.

Luz shows a website on her phone to Amity, "Usually when I'm in a mood wanting to enjoy more Azura, I go to this site and read works made by other fans. They're not perfect and you're bound to find some mistakes, but it's fun to explore other people's creations and takes on it."

"Wow, didn't think there would be this many… hey, why is the search filter on teens?" Amity asked.

"You don't want to mess with that," Luz exclaims, "Trust me."

Amity shrugs and takes the phone as Luz goes back to continue her drawing of Eda wearing the outfit of Azura's mentor. Amity lays down on Luz's bed and looks through the site. She notices a lot of romance material with Azura and some male characters, but what caught her attention is some of the works pairing her with her rival.

"Oh, wow. There's certainly a lot of… what did you call it again? Ships?" Amity shared.

"Mm, yeah. Those are pretty popular," Luz answered without taking her eyes off the drawing.

Amity stares back at the screen feeling her heart quickening it's pace at the question bubbling in her mind, "Haha, and there's even ones between Azura and her rival, Hecate. Isn't that weird? That's so weird!"

"Not really," Luz answers as she colors in the hair.

"Oh… you don't think so?"

"I mean having more than one faces may seem strange, but that's what makes her such a fun character."

"That's not what I mean, I meant..." Amity pauses to think carefully, not sure if she should press her chances or if the answer she gets would be what she hoped for. Then again, this is Luz she's talking to. "Hecate and Azura started off on a bad note. They haven't gotten along until they worked together. They finally understood each other and became friends. What if… Hecate does like Azura but is afraid to confess them? What if she's afraid that these feelings she has will ruin everything between them? Would Azura… even feel the same?"

"I get where you're coming from but it doesn't sound so bad. I mean, isn't a girlfriend or boyfriend just a best friend you really care for?" Luz taps on her head with a pencil before going for her coloring set, "Even if Azura doesn't feel the same way, it's not like they can't ever go back to being friends. Her greatest strength is seeing the good in everyone, I think, and I don't think she would do that to someone close to her."

Amity said nothing, imagining the scenarios that could happen if she found out about her feelings. Her words brought small comfort, but it's easier to say such things when it doesn't directly involve you. Would she really do the same? A girlfriend who is just a best friend you really care for? She wish she could try to press more, but even someone like Luz would probably wander what's up.

But what would she really say if she knew? If only she could find out...

Luz lets out a yawn and stands up with the sound of rustling papers, "So, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"Would it work with us?"

Amity bolted straight up. Us? What did she meant by 'us'? She could barely bring herself to look at Luz and instead turn her body to the wall. "C-come on, don't joke about that kind of thing..." Amity pleaded.

"I'm not joking, I think it could work."

"R-really?" Amity gulps. She thinks it could work? Does Luz feel the same way after all this time? And to be so bold in asking her out? Amity nervously shakes her head, "B-b-but what would the others say then?"

"They'll probably find it cute. Come on, tell me what you think."

Amity starts rocking back and forth, feeling her blood becoming ice. Her heart threatened to break free. "I didn't know you… you could've... you can't just drop this on me! Give me a second to think!" she pleaded.

Luz chuckles and reaches for Amity's shoulder to turn her over, "I'm not waiting all night for an answer."

"I said I'm not ready! I'm not ready! Please just let me-" Amity stops as her eyes took notice of the large picture Luz has in her other hand. A drawing of her, Luz, Eda, Willow, Gus, and King as characters from the Azura. Both her and Luz is drawn in Azura's attire with colorful text above that states: "Club buddies!"

"It didn't feel fair for only one of us to be Azura," Luz grins, "You do got the hair for it."

"It's... lovely," Amity answered genuinely but the bitter disappointment made it sound monotone, "I'll be going to bed right now." She flops face down onto the mattress and draws a magic circle causing the pillow and blanket to fly out from under her and cover her body entirely.

"Oh… uh, okay! Sweet dreams, Amity!"Luz turns to the bedroom door hearing it open and sees King wandering in with a stuffed animal.

"So whose feet am I sleeping next to tonight?"


	3. Second Day, Part 1

Amity opened her eyes and felt the unfamiliar sensation around her. Her mind slowly stirs as she feels around the sheets. "Wha… This isn't my bed…" she yawns, "Oh, right. I was in a hotel and then…"

Groggily, she lifts her head and rubs her eyes. Her vision blurs slightly before bringing the room into focus. Luz's room. Oh, the memories finally caught up with her as she stretched out her arms, that's right, I'm staying over at her place. And I was just sleeping in the same room with... The color rises in her cheeks at the realization that Luz is sleeping on the floor by the bed. Amity couldn't help to wonder what sleeping Luz would look like. Would it be cute? No, she can imagine her looking sloppy and drooling on her sleeping mat. Still, Amity couldn't help but to satiate this curiosity of hers. She crawls forward and peers over the edge only to find the mat empty.

Oh, is she already up? Then where-

She turned to her left and found herself looking directly at a human girl holding a phone up between them. "Boop," Luz triggers her camera and snaps a shot of closed-up Amity.

"Ahh!" Amity jumps back and pulls on the covers up to her face.

"Sorry! I couldn't resist missing out on 'Bed hair Amity,'" Luz explains then shows her the photo. Saved for the tomato color on her face, her hair actually looked more stylized than messy. "Look how cute it is, it's like you just got back from a hair stylist."

"I am not-! You better not put that on Penstagram or I'm calling my siblings to come pick me up!"

"No, I wouldn't! I'll delete it! See?" Luz quickly taps onto her phone and shows her the gallery album as proof. Amity says nothing and crosses her arms but her expression relaxes. "I was going to wake you to ask what kind of breakfast you'd like, but you just got up and I… couldn't resist, sorry."

Amity looks away and crosses her arms, "Just… don't do it again. And I'm fine with whatever."

"Pancakes it is!" Luz beams and dramatically marches to the door, but before she could leave she sticks her head back in and asks, "Oh, did you sleep well last night? And... is it any better than some five-star hotel?"

Amity rolls her eyes and scoffs, "I never told you it was some extravagant place. But… yeah, I did. And, it is."

Luz grins and closes the door behind her. Amity takes a moment to herself and relaxes back into bed. The same bed Luz's been sleeping right before she showed up. It's definitely not the same bed as her's back at home. It's pretty stiff, the sheets don't breathe much, and it's probably stolen from somewhere. And yet, it couldn't feel any more comforting.

Amity lifts the covers above her head as her mind begins to wander. She doesn't know why but she wonders how come it doesn't seem to have any smell. Not that she's saying Luz smells. In fact, what does Luz smell like? She brings it to her nose and takes in a deep whiff.

Her eyes shot open and she immediately threw the covers off of her, "And I just did something that will haunt me for the rest of my life."

~/~

"Due to the oncoming weather, recent criminal activities, and a freak piranha accident, the fair will unfortunately be canceled for the week. We will now turn to our local weatherman outside who is still currently screaming in agony-" Eda switches the channel and takes a sip from her coffee. The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs pulled her attention to Amity waving while still rubbing her eyes with her other hand.

"Morning sleepyhead. I figured a prep like you would be the first one up," said Eda before taking another sip.

"Morning Ms. Eda. I like to thank you for letting me stay over for the week. It's really nice of you."

"Eh, apparently my home is some sort of getaway for girls from their own families," Eda smiles down at her cup, "Guess that's why it's hard for me to say no. Just don't give me a reason to make it easy, got it?"

Amity dryly swallows, "Of course, um… I'll be in the kitchen, if that's alright." Eda watches her go and laughs to herself, "So is that what it feels like to assert authority? No wonder I hate it."

Luz slides another cake for King's plate who watches it eagerly as the stack slowly rises to nearly his own height. Luz finishes it off by placing a tiny flag on the top with a drawing of King's face, "There you go, buddy. A tower fit for a ruler!"

King whips out his knife and fork and shouts, "I am a merciless god!" and digs in.

Amity came in just in time to witness the carnage and whispers over to Luz, "Isn't that a little too much for him?"

"Surprisingly no, guess he makes up for it with that energy of his. Here, I got you something special," Luz gestures her to the counter where another plate sits covered by a white cloth. She pulls it off dramatically and bows, "Your Azura pancakes, for my fellow club member!"

Amity looks in amaze at the artstyle on the cake, "Whoa, did you learn some new spell to do this?"

"No spells," Luz proudly stuck her chest out, "Just hard work and a lot of digestible food dyes. I'll show you how later, I still have yet to make Eda's." Amity takes the plate and goes to sit down with King who is already down to half of his sugary tower. Unlike his animalistic table manner, Amity gently takes her knife and fork and silently apologizes to Azura as she cuts a small piece of her.

The first bite hits her with a blast of sweetness. She almost lets out a sound before she quickly goes for another bite.

"We're so lucky Luz knows how to make great pancakes. They're like a bajillion times better than Eda's."

"Uh, excuse me," Eda walks in and leans against the doorway, "I didn't hear you complaining the last time I made them."

"That's because I was too busy chasing after it!" exclaimed King, "And I did! When you weren't around to listen!"

"A little exercise before eating never hurt anyone," Luz offers a finished plate to Eda then hops over to Amity's side.

"So I was thinking for our first day, we could get with Willow and Gus and enjoy the fair together. Then maybe we can show off our skills and learn some new tricks," Luz says with a playful punch to Amity's shoulder, "Then when it gets dark, we can make some hot chocolate and binge a bunch of Azura movies."

"Sounds like fun," Eda commented.

"I know right!"

"So where are you gonna fit the 'get burned alive' into the schedule?"

"Get what now?"

Eda whistled and held out her hand to catch her staff flying towards her. She gives it a spin then draws a large magic circle and finishes it with a snap of her finger. A large barrier forms from the top of the house and spreads down covering the entire place just as the first wave of boiling rain came down.

The Owl Lady triumphantly pumps her fist, "Nailed it! Oh, uh, the fair's canceled and it's gonna rain all day. Sorry, kids."

"No! Ohhh, why does nature hate meeee..." Luz drops her head onto the table and lets out a sob. Amity reaches over and comforts her, "Hey, it's no big deal. We still got a week ahead of us."

Eda nods, "That's right, there's plenty of fun things to do here."

Luz bolted up with stars in her eyes as an idea came to her, "You mean like games!?"

"I was referring to sitting around and watching whatever comes on the crystal ball, but I guess that's what we're doing now…" Eda, King, and Amity finished their meals and walked into the living room as Luz excitedly ran by to where the games are being kept. "Make sure not to grab one from the cursed games pile, those rules are way too strict," Eda calls out before plopping down in her chair.

Amity sat down in the middle of the couch with King joining her on the left. "Since you're our guest and Luz's friend, I suppose I can go easy on you if you beg hard enough," King offered.

"Aww, I definitely won't do that but I appreciate the gesture," Amity reaches over to pet him but King lightly slaps her hand away and folds his arms. "We're not at that level yet," he states.

"It's not like you could tell the difference anyway," Eda snorts and watches Luz bouncing over with several games in hand, "So whatcha got for us, kiddo?"

Luz holds up the first board with a picture of some female detective and other characters standing in front of a dark manor on a hill, "I was thinking we could start with 'Mysterious deaths at Mystery Manor: The Mystery Game.'"

"Ooh, I'm afraid not," said Eda, "All the pieces are missing because someone ate them all. Which is why he's BANNED FOR LIFE!"

Hooty swings open into the living room, "Oh come on, I said I was sorry! Hoot hoot. I can still try to get them back. HA-ACK!" The Owl Door forcefully coughs out his lungs in an attempt to vomit before King quickly slams the door shut.

"What else you got?" he asks.

"Well, I haven't heard of this one but it has a pretty cool evil guy on the cover: The Soulmaster-whoa!" The box shoots out a dark fog as soon as Luz opens the lid and violently swirls around the room. The fog takes the shape of a large man by only the upper torso visible while the bottom is still fog emitting from the box.

"Finally! After all these years I am free!" the spirit exclaimed, then pointed at Eda, "Now, Fowl Witch! It is time we resume our battle for the fate of the-wait, wait nooooooo-!" The spirit immediately gets sucked back into the box by Eda's nonchalant clap, trapping the strange being inside once again.

Eda dusts her hands off, "You wouldn't want to play that one anyway, it gets pretty repetitive."

Everyone stares at her in silence before Luz forces a cough, "O-okay, guess that just leaves us with 'Life! Because apparently that's what humans have.'"

King groans, "Come on, I don't want to play games that make you pay a mortgage. Even Eda doesn't have to pay a mortgage!"

"Ha ha ha, hey King," Eda leans over and loudly whispers, "What did I say about announcing my financial information in front of people?"

Luz sets the boxes down and rests her chin trying to think of something else. She suddenly lets out a gasp then slaps one of her paper spells onto her head, conjuring the light orb above her like a lightbulb. "I know! I'll be right back!" Luz runs up the stairs leaving the three alone in the living room.

No one said a word to each other as they waited. Amity felt both eyes directed at her yet whenever she looks at either of them they suddenly cast them away to whatever direction they stick with.

Deciding to break the awkward silence, Amity starts "So… how long have you known Luz for?"

"Pfft! What kind of an icebreaker question is that? What are you her parents?" Eda snorts.

Amity's face turns red in annoyance as King busts out laughing. "Yeah, shouldn't we be the ones asking that?" he said through his tears.

"Oh pipe it down, you rascal," Eda tosses a pillow at him, "Sorry, hun. We didn't mean to be rude about it. We're just having fun is all."

"Yeah, making fun of others is how we do our icebreakers. But seriously," King turns his body to Amity and rests his head on his hands, "What intentions do you have with our Luz?"

"Intentions!? Nothing, why would you even ask me that? I mean, I'm just here because we got spiders in our home. I could've stayed anywhere I want. It's Luz who begged me to come here after all. Not that I want to, I mean not saying that I don't want either, but I don't. You understand?"

Amity shuts her mouth as the two stare back in silence. King frowns and shrugs it off, "Not the reaction I was expecting. Welp, the moments ruined, back to finding snacks."

Eda on the other hand narrowed her eyes at Amity who is currently watching in concern and disgust at whatever he may find. "Huh…" she mutters.

Luz finally came back down with a game console. "Back home when there wasn't anything else to do, this baby helped pass the time with brain numbing fun!" she sets the electronics down onto the table. Amity glances at the machine with interest, "Oh wow, why does it have two tails?"

"Ha! So I wasn't the only one who thought that!" chimed Eda.

"Those are the controllers, it's how you can interact with pictures on a screen! I showed King how to use it and he got hooked ever since," Luz explains as she sets the crystal ball down and tries to figure out where to plug the cords in.

King lays onto one side and snidely remarks with, "Yeah, Luz said I got what it takes to go pro. Crushing casuals and going for MVP awards with my top tier elite gaming skills."

"... what?"

"I should probably put some control on what he watches on my phone," Luz said as she finally connected the console to the crystal ball, thanks to Eda's magic, and got the game running.

The crystal reflects a little man running up to a giant bomb and trying to carry it off screen before it explodes, launching him to the screen then fades to black. The title card appears, 'Explosion Man!'

"This game is a classic multiplayer. I always just go against the AI back at home since I didn't have anyone to play with before King. Want to play, Amity?" Luz sat down next to Amity and handed the controller over to her. Amity takes it with an awkward hold and stares at the multiple button layouts on the alien device.

"If you're having trouble figuring it out, I'll show you as we go. Actually here, give me your hand and I'll-"

"NO!" Amity swings her hands away from Luz's, "I-I'm a fast learner! I'm fine with just watching!" Eda raises an eyebrow at the reaction as Luz eagerly takes her control and starts the game.

"So the game starts with both of us placed at opposite corners of the map. The goal of the game is to eliminate each other with bombs, but there are a lot of blocks in the way so we have to destroy them with the bombs. But you have to be careful of the explosion range, you can get blown up with your own bombs."

"Oh, I see and you can hide behind those columns to avoid the blasts?"

"Yeah, that's it!"

"So then how do we eliminate each other then if we could just run behind them?"

"You can't walk through the bombs, so the best way to win is to trap your enemy between them and watch them struggle desperately before they blow up."

"That's… sounds pretty morbid."

Luz thinks of it to herself, "Huh, when you put it that way, I guess it is… Let's start!"

Amity watches Luz enter her into the game as Player 2 who must be the little man appearing at the top right corner from her. Luz decides to let the game start off slow by destroying the obstacles around her instead of going for Amity. One of them revealed a power up which Luz began to explain before a sudden explosion sound went off and the screen shows 'Round Over! Player 1 wins!'

King drops to his back laughing, "She blew herself up!"

Amity's face flares up, "I'm still getting used to the controls!"

"That's okay, it's a common mistake. It's not like we're in a competition or anything."

"Yeah," King said while wiping a tear from his face, "Otherwise I would totally destroy you."

Amity growls but focuses on the game as it starts the next round. It was a terrible start but after a few minutes she began getting the sense of the controls. Luz takes notice as Amity begins blasting her way to her, "A bold strat, Amity! But do you know what happens when you corner a human?"

"What? You'll start barking and snarling?" Amity grins as she finally enters over to Luz's side and tries to trap her. Luz didn't expect her to pick up the game this quick and panic. "Uh oh! No, no, no, no!" she cries and moves frantically around. Her body pressed against Amity causing the girl to freeze in her tracks, letting her character trap itself between her own bombs. Once again, losing the match.

"Noob!" shouted King.

"I don't know what that means, but it sounds degrading," Amity pushes Luz away from her, "And stay at your side!"

"Come on Luz, let me play!" said King, "I could barely watch this trainwreck."

Luz scolds at him, "King! Be nice! Sorry he likes to get competitive."

"It's fine, just because he played this game longer than I have, doesn't make him better than me."

King checks his nails and snidely remarks with, "Mmm, pretty sure it does, sister. If it was me you're going against, you'd be blown away with the skills I have."

"Oh? Then why don't we play a round then," Amity offers.

"Oh ho! Now it's getting interesting!" Eda intervened, "But if we're going to do this, then we'll need to do it right. How about a wager match to get the blood pumping?"

"Yes!" King pumps both his fists, "Unnecessary conflicts! We'll play best out of five! If I win you will have to refer to me as 'Grandmaster King!'"

Amity rolls her eyes, "Okay fine, but if I-"

"No, wait. Supreme Grandmaster King!"

"... sure, but if I win then you can't object to me and Luz dressing you up in whatever we want," Amity grins.

"I'm fine as long as everyone is having fun but I would love to see that too," Luz admits then hands the controller and her spot to King.

The game started and both players began racing to get to the other side as fast as they could. King broke the last barrier between them and went in for the rush. He laughs seeing Amity backing away, "Go ahead and corner yourself! It'll just make it easier to-"

The sound of an explosion stops him mid-sentence when he sees his own character getting launched at the screen.

'Round Over! Player 2 wins!'

"What!?" he cried.

Amity chuckles to herself, "I knew you were going to charge at me the first chance you got, so I preemptively placed bombs on the side and lured you into them."

"You just got lucky! This next round is mine!"

The next round was definitely not his as it ends with his character getting blown out of the map again. King cries in frustration and kicks his feet.

"Don't feel so bad, I did say I'm a quick learner. But I suppose I could go easy on you if you beg hard enough…"

"Don't use my own words against me for ironic justice!" Amity laughs and focuses on the next round again.

The wager kept on going, with King losing round after round much to Amity's delight. Luz smiles seeing her genuinely enjoying herself. Amity averted her eyes away when she looked back with a nervous smile of her own. Eda gently elbows Luz for her attention and whispers, "Hey Luz, why don't you cheer your friend on?"

"Which one?"

"The green one, silly. King's got enough ego to last him for winter. Say something like:" Eda whispers the words Luz's ear. She shrugs and cups her hands around her mouth and says, "Go get him, girlfriend!"

Amity's heart seized all motor controls of her body upon hearing the words. King didn't notice the reaction but definitely took the opportunity to surround her character in explosives. "You're done!" he cries in victory as her character breaks the screen, "I did it! I won! Woohoo!"

"Congrats," Amity says, monotoned, "You won one round."

"And you better believe it! Time for the ultimate comeback!"

Luz clicks her tongue and sucks in her teeth, "Actually King… you already lost."

"What?"

"It was best out of five, and Amity already had won more than that since you guys started. I guess I should've said something but it was really intense and I was afraid to get pulled in."

King drops his arms by his side feeling the satisfaction deflating like a balloon. "Oh King~" Amity pulls his attention to show the little dress she conjured out of thin air.

"No…" he mutters, "Nooo!" King runs over to Eda and hugs her leg, "Eda! Please by the power of our codependent relationship I beg you, save me from these girls!"

"Oh quite being so melodramatic, you'll be amazed with the amount of legroom that skirt will offer."

"I'll do anything! I'll wash Hooty for a week! A month even! Please~" he pleads as he slides down her leg.

"Oh alright, but only because watching you two go at it made my competitive blood flowing," Eda stands up and stretches out her arms. She casts a malicious grin at everyone and summons her staff to her side, "But if we're going to settle this, then we'll do it on my game."

~/~

Eda expands her barrier outside large enough for the others to get outside. She conjures a beam from Owlbert's staff drawing a white line across the muddy ground. The little owl frees himself from the pedestal and takes the whistle from Eda's hand to play the referee.

"A game of Magicball ought to do the trick, we'll divide into teams of three. Me, Hooty, and King against the girls and that weird purple thing she can make." Amity frowns at the comment but conjures up her Abomination.

"So… how does one play Magicball?" Luz asks, still reeling from the escalation of everything.

"It's quite simple," Amity explains, "Each person will get a ball and have to strike the opposing team out by hitting them with it until no one is left. If someone catches a thrown ball without it touching the ground once, then the thrower is out."

"Oh, we got a game like that back at home, but we just call it dodge… ball…" Luz's eyes widened when she realizes what the name means considering her firsthand experience with Grudgby.

"Alright team, remember we're doing this for King's sake," said Eda, "Hooty, are you alright dealing with the little green fireball?"

"Hoot hoot! Yup, I realized that my paralyzing fear was the result of me overstepping my boundaries and not respecting her private space which rightfully caused her to savagely attack me. I learned my lesson and promise to do better when dealing with other's-"

"Yeah, yeah, that's great. Just don't hesitate to knock Luz down, the hot mud will soften the blow," Eda tosses the ball and catches in one hand, "Alright let's do this thing! Start us off Owlbert!"

The little owl blows his whistle and Eda kicks it off by engulfing the ball in flames and launches with incredible force. The Abomination holds out his hands ready to catch it but the ball easily tore through its head, scaring the daylights out of the girls.

"Woo! Just so we're clear it's not illegal since Abominations are not sentient, intelligent lifeforms!" Eda quickly remarks then low fives King.

"I'm terrified," Luz comments.

"Just stay behind me, I got you covered," Amity warns. She runs over to grab the ball then conjures a large hand to boost her up into the air. She spins and throws the ball at Eda who dashes out with her magic to let the ball hit the ground. King runs over and grabs it and aims it at Luz.

"Sorry to do this to you, Luz, but my innocence is on the line! You will regret the day you ever crossed me!" King arches his arm back and throws the ball with all his might at the young girl.

Who proceeds to catch it no problem with them being only five feet apart.

Owlbert blows his whistle and points at King who stomps his feet and cries, "Dang it!"

"Oh no, who could've seen that coming…" Eda said with an obviously feigned surprise. She then gestures at Luz, "Come on girl, show your master what tricks you picked up."

"I don't know," Luz hesitates, "I don't want to hurt you and…" The ground beneath Luz trembles before a certain long, neck head pops out knocking the ball out of her hands. "Oh you're too kind, Luz!" Hooty says as he bounces the ball with his head.

"Hey!" Amity cries, "Stay over at your side!"

Hooty stretches over to her face and gestures at the door he's emerging from, "Technically, I am still on my side!" Amity glares at Owlbert who just shrugs back at her.

"My turn!" Hooty slams his head at the ball sending it down towards Amity. She ducks out of the way just nearly in the nick of time which afforded Hooty to tunnel back underground and reappear to launch the ball this time towards Luz.

"Luz, watch out!" Amity cried out. The human girl quickly tosses her ice magic onto the ground and summons a pillar of ice, launching the ball back into the air then down onto their side of the court. Amity goes for the opportunity but Hooty pops out the ground and coils her body with his neck and takes the ball.

"Hey Amity! I'm so glad we made up and are now hanging out like the best of pals! What do you want to do after this?"

"Can't… breathe…!"

"What? You can't read? That's okay, neither can I! Huh?" Hooty hears shouting coming towards him and looks up in time to see Luz flying from a freshly conjured ice pillar. He quickly bounces the ball high into the air and ducks for Luz to sail through and straight into the mud.

Luz lifts her dirt-caked face from the ground and holds it, "Ugh, thought that would work…"

"My turn!" Luz got smacked in the back of the head by Hooty's sudden throw, causing her to skid a couple of feet forward. Owlbert whistles then hurriedly flies over to her side.

Amity gasps, "Luz!"

"Man, I am glad her mother doesn't know I exist," Eda comments.

Hooty looks down at Luz laying on her face, not paying attention to Amity forming a spell with her free hand. "Wow, that looks like it hurts a-AGH!" A large, purple hand emerges and squeezes Hooty's elongated neck forcing him to let go of Amity.

With anger burning inside her, she runs and conjures another summoning spell forming an Abomination to grab the ball and hurls it into the air. She jumps and uses its back as a step and slams her fist against the ball sending it directly at Hooty's face. The door bird's face caves in from the impact and drops to the ground like a giant, weird-looking noodle.

Amity breathes in heavily but runs over to where Luz is knocked down. She flips the girl over, seeing her entire front side covered in mud. "Luz? Are you okay?" she asks.

The girl coughs out mud and rubs the muck off her eyes, "Ohh… Amity? Hey, it's fine the really, really hot mud softened my fall. Actually do you think it will make my skin look good."

Amity lets out a sigh of relief, "You already look great."

"What?"

"CAKED!" Amity flips, "in dirt! Because, wow, that ball sure got you good. You should probably, like, get off the field. Now…"

Luz nods but feels a light headache coming, "Sure… but do you mind helping me to my feet?"

"Y-you mean like… c-carry you?" Amity gulps, "Of course! Just let me… uh…" She reaches out but her hands stop short before her as if they were pressed against some invisible force. Luz glances down at them then back at her with concern.

"Heh, sorry I might've… pulled a muscle or-"

King shouts, "What's the hold up! Get off the field and lose already!"

Amity grits her teeth and summons her abomination to carry Luz for her. The girl waves and says, "Good luck, Amity! You got this!"

After a hard swallow, Amity looks around to see where the ball might've ended up at before Eda whistles for her attention. "Looking for this?" Eda spins the ball with one hand then lets it roll from her shoulder into the other hand, "I gotta say kid, I'm impressed with how you handle Hooty there. Not even the Emperor's guard can stop him."

"I doubt that," she says, crossing her arms.

"Heh, wouldn't blame you," Eda lets the ball drop and bounces it with her knee, "You know, Luz told me a lot about you."

"She has!?" Amity said too quickly before clearing her throat and feigned disinterest, "Oh, I mean, yeah we're… friends. But uh, what did she say about me exactly?"

"That you are really good at Grudgby," Eda bounces the ball and catches it with both hands.

"I mean, I used to be good. Hehe, I mean I was captain at some point…" Amity crosses her arms confidently, "Luz told me that you like to play dirty."

"What? Me? Pfft, nah!" Eda waves her hand, "I got no interest in cheating against a teenager, just some good ol' tossing the ball at each other to pass the time. On an unrelated note, how about a little encouragement to get this match going!" Eda conjures a glyph with one finger then shoots a yellow beam directly towards Luz standing at the side.

The girl shouts and covers herself as the beam hits her but feels no pain or anything strange besides something occupying both her hands. She opens her eyes to be greeted with pom poms and a new cheerleading outfit. She gasps and checks herself, "Whoa! Magic beams that create cute clothes!"

"Hey!" King yells at Eda now adorning the same attire, "Why did I get hit by it too! Have you forgotten why we're doing this?"

Eda laughs, "That one was for me. Now I'm feeling motivated, what about you, kiddo? Kid?"

Amity didn't respond as her headlight-like eyes are glued to Luz's new attire with a deep shade of red washing over her face. Eda frowns then aims with her thumb, wondering if she should just take the shot now and end the game but says, "Eh, too easy. Heads up!"

She blasts the ball with her magic directly at the ground next to Amity causing the girl to break out her trance as the impact knocks her off her feet. She wipes the mud off her face and sees the ball rolling towards her before Eda calls out again.

"Tell you what!" Eda rotates her position on the field until she is standing in direct vision of Luz waving her pom poms around, "Since you're our guest, I'll just make it easy for you and not use any magic to avoid it. Come and get me!"

Amity fiercely grips the ball in her hands but couldn't help getting distracted by Luz bouncing up and down and cheering out her name, "Amity! Amity!"

"Am I having a heart attack? Is this what a heart attack feels like?" Amity shakes her head then turns her back to them. She thought of a plan and summoned a large Abomination hand in front of her. She throws the ball at it for the hand to slap it across the field for her, but unfortunately with no clear visual contact the ball hits the ground with Eda nowhere near it.

"Weird idea, but you got this girl!" said Luz, having no clue about her choice of actions. "Maybe it would help if you actually look where you're aiming, just a suggestion!"

Maybe it would help if you stop being so cute in that outfit! Amity desperately wanted to say but wisely kept it to her head.

Eda levitates the ball towards her and laughs, "Want to give it another go?" she offers.

"I don't know what your game is, but I expected better than cheap tricks from some wild witch!" Amity blurted.

Luz drops her arms, "Oh no, she should have not said that…"

Eda only smiles at the girl and spins the ball on one finger, "Some wild witch, huh? Sorry to disappoint you, but tricks are all I got. Like this one for example." Eda floats the ball above her and duplicates it into eight other copies before engulfing them with yellow flames.

"I should have not said that…" Amity gulps.

"Play ball!" Eda thrust her hands out and launched them one by one. Amity screams and uses her abomination hand to toss her across the field before it gets obliterated.

"Keep your eye on the ball or you'll lose that eye of yours!" She conjures more copies and launches them into the air this time to strike down like mortars. Luz bites on her hands watching Amity running wildly around the field like a headless chicken.

"Uh… Eda isn't trying to kill Amity… is she?"

"Tear that witch apart!" King cries.

Amity turns her head back after one of the balls lands dangerously close to her before tripping over Hooty, still unconscious from earlier, just as another hits the ground causing her to fly through the air before skidding across the dirt.

She groans and feels the shivers of a desperately needed bath for all the dirt and grime in her hair and clothes. Her eyes caught the white line Eda drew then noticed a shadow looming over her making her look up to see Eda holding the ball over her head.

"As much fun as this was, Captain, I think it's about time we end this." Magic swirls around the ball then swells the size of the ball into a huge inferno. "Any last words?" Eda said with unintentional grim and finality.

"Mercy?"

"That's quitters talk."

There comes a time at least once in everyone's life when they think about how they'll go out of this world. Getting killed by the mentor of your crush? It's strange, but would be fitting in the Good Witch Azura series. She genuinely wonders if Eda would listen if she shouted her surrender but it sure beats getting pulverized.

Amity opens her mouth ready to plead for her life until her eyes caught something poking out of Eda's right arm, "Is that… a feather?"

Eda goes wide-eyed and immediately dissipates her magic then quickly covers it with her other arm. "Nope! It's uh… a really thick arm hair, yup that's what's gonna happen to you when you get as old as I am. So uh…" Eda lightly tosses the ball towards Amity for her to catch with ease, "Woops, hand slipped! I lose. You win. I'm going to go take a power nap now, send the pictures of King to me later. Bye bye!"

Amity watches in disbelief at the Owl Lady rushing inside the house with Owlbert in tow and slams the door with Hooty's still stretched out neck through the ground. King chases after her and screams, "Get back here you coward!"

Luz walks up and plops down into the ground next to Amity, "Aw, you have the same traumatized look I usually get here. Now you're officially one of us!"

She pulls Amity in for a hug but the girl merely blinks and still keeps her arms locked onto the ball for dear life. "Please change out of that," she mutters. King's shouting took both of their attention to him kicking Hooty to get him awake.

"Stop resting and fight for me!" King looked over at the girls and stopped with just one more kick. He coughs and chuckles nervously, "Haha, that was a good game back there! GG, or whatever that means! You girls hungry? I'm going to go whip us some nachos-"

He turns ready to make a break for it until a purple creature pops out of the ground and grabs him. King shouts and tries to kick his little legs to free himself before being forced to turn around to the girls making their way to him.

"No! Stay back! I'm warning you! Stay back! NOOOOOOOO!"

~/~

"You know what, Eda was right. This legroom really is amazing," admitted King as he takes on various poses for the girls taking pictures in the living room.

Amity laughs, pulls the towel from her freshly cleaned hair, "Hey, is Eda okay? She seemed really unnerved when I mentioned that… weird hair."

Luz forces a grin, "Uh yeah! She's REALLY self-conscious about it. It's fine, it's already been a couple of hours and nothing has happened yet."

"What's supposed to happen?"

"Nothing! Didn't you hear me?" Amity rolls her eyes and elbows the lovable dork. She cast her eyes out the window with the boiling rain still pouring down. "You know, despite the madness and everything, I really had a good time today," she said.

Luz beams at her words, "I'm glad to hear that! I'm still sorry that Eda probably was trying to kill you."

"It's… fine, I should definitely apologize to her later," Amity goes to take another picture of him. An itch in her mind came up causing her to suddenly frown, "Are we… forgetting something?"

Luz tries to think what she meant but shrugs, "I don't know. If it's not important then we'll worry about it tomorrow. Ooh, King how about you put this one on?"

As the three are spending their time inside, Hooty still remains on the ground sleeping soundly like a regular nap unaffected by the hot pestering raindrops. As the evening rolls in, a cloaked stranger walks up to the sleeping owl and inspects the creature.

"Curious…" the husky voiced man said then turned his face to the house, "Are you making this easy for us, Owl Lady? Well, don't mind if I do then."


	4. Second Day, Part 2

"Make your choice now, Azura!" The Dark Lord zaps another bolt of energy into the beam pinning the witch's rival, Hecate, sending painful shocks throughout her body. "Either save your friend and risk letting me escape! Or give up her life to try and stop me!"

"Do it, Azura!" Hecate cried as another painful shock emits through her, "If he escapes then this world will be trapped in endless night! You must!"

"Don't do it, Azura!"

"Luz! Shh!"

"Yes, Azura! Listen to the darkness in your heart, let the rage consume you!"

The Good Witch chuckles, breaking the villain's prominence. She twirls her staff and plants the end to the ground. Her eyes open with illuminating light, she drags the staff below her leaving behind a glowing trace of a circle then slams the palm of her hand to the ground. Unleashing a wave of magical energy, knocking the Dark Lord back but harmlessly passes through Hecate as the magical prison breaks hold.

The multi-headed witch rubbed all of her eyes and looked up in surprise to see Azura standing before her with her hand out. "Hecate, you offered for us to join as allies because we couldn't beat him alone," the Good Witch gives a warm smile, "But why not finish him off together… as friends?"

Hecate stares at the hand before her. Hesitantly, she reaches out her own but before she could take it the image distorts, stuttering and lagging before the frame freezes with a loud audio error. Both Luz and Amity let out frustrated groans.

"It was about to get to the best part!" Amity whined, "That fight scene is still hailed as one of the best animated sequences in the movie!"

Luz picks up the ball and inspects it closely from all sides for anything. She shakes the object in her hand, briefly causing the movie to reappear but knows they can't finish it with her moving it around so much. She decides to shut it off then plants her head onto the table.

"Eda could fix it but she's probably asleep by now," Luz yawns, "Guess we should do the same. Sorry about that."

"No worries, we can still finish it later," suggested Amity. Her scroll-phone buzzes with a text message alert. She unlocks it and is greeted by a screenshot of her siblings squeezing their faces close to the camera making dumb faces with a message below saying, 'Hope you are as bored as we are.'

Amity rolls her eyes but couldn't suppress the feeling to smile. She thought about what to send back but before she could hit a key, another text from them popped up.

'Don't worry, they still don't know a thing.'

Amity's smile faded and she felt a lump forming in her throat. She goes to close her phone until Luz pressed her face next to hers to see the picture, "Aw! I wish I had siblings as cool as them."

Amity jumps and fumbles the phone in her hand, nearly dropping it before she quickly conjures an Abomination's hand to grab it. She exhales in relief before casting a glare at her, "Luz! What did I tell you about personal space!?"

"To give you a heads up and let you take deep breaths before giving the okay sign?"

"... sure whatever," Amity sighs, "I didn't mean to snap like that, I'm sorry. I'm still worried about what my parents will do if they find out."

"They're not gonna find out," Luz reassures her and takes a seat on the arm couch.

"What if they do? You saw what they said they'd do to Willow if I didn't stop being friends with her. If they found out I was lying and say the same about you, I couldn't bare to-"

"Amity," Luz takes her by the shoulders, "It's not going to happen again, not with me. We'll always have our secret Azura club and I'll always be your friend, no matter what."

Kind words, yet somehow the mention of 'friend' felt like a draft blowing through her. Amity manages half a smile, "It's not like I could get rid of you…"

"That's the spirit," Luz giggles. She takes out her phone and sheepishly grins, "I hope you're not still mad about this morning and you did say not to do it again, but I really want to capture some memories of this week before you have to go back."

"I didn't say you couldn't, of course I'll-"

"Great!" Luz squeezes into the chair with Amity and pulls her in close for a selfie. Amity was barely able to say a word before the phone snapped a shot of them. "Our first sleepover photo! Let me send you a copy." Amity's scroll-phone buzzes again showing the cute image of Luz smiling back at her with the message from her siblings still on the screen.

"Thank you, Luz."

A loud sound against the window made the girls nearly jump out of their skin. They both turn to see the source but only catch the distant pelter on the magical barrier.

"Must've been Hooty trying to watch the movie," Luz guessed.

"Yeah… hey, you mind turning off the lights? I'll be there up in a bit." Amity asked.

"You're not heading to bed?"

"Not yet, I want to text Emira and Edric some more," Amity lied. Luz understands and heads upstairs. Amity waits a bit for her to go then pulls up the image they took together. She wished she had more time to prepare before Luz took the photo, certainly not Penstagram worthy, if she can get away uploading it.

Still she couldn't help but smile at it, Luz wrapping her arm around her with that bright smile of hers. She tapped onto the image effects and added a red heart between them. Just the sight of it already got her emotions building again. The pressure of it making her feelings swell in her heart, desperately looking for a release.

But what release? It feels agonizing for her to keep it suppressed. To be so confused and flustered, she sorely wishes there was someone she can talk to. But to who? Her and Willow may be on better terms but it seems selfish to vent to her after what she has done to her. She barely knows Gus. Heck, she wouldn't even be able to share this with Borscha and Skara.

Despite not having the intention to do so, her brother and sister came to mind. But that would only give her siblings more power to the teasing and pestering. Plus Edric would probably get too emotional, and that's another package she would rather not open.

Amity slides against the chair til her back is leaning against the seat cushion. She doesn't regret leaving her old social life behind, she was lonely and lost. She's surrounded by better people. People who care. People who actually act like friends.

And yet, she still feels alone. Alone with her emotions.

She gazes at the picture of them again and plays with more image effects before reverting back to the edit with the single heart. She sighs, "What am I supposed to do with these feelings?"

Not wanting to come back to bed yet, Amity pulls up her book app to continue reading one of the Azura series. Desperate for anything to help get her mind off of this.

~/~

Amity awoke from her spot and felt her scroll-phone still sitting on her chest. She gazes around the dark living room and realizes that she must have dozed off. She sits up and feels a stiff pain in her back from sleeping at such a bad angle.

Ugh, I am going to feel that tomorrow… or today.

A sound, quiet but distinct enough to hear, came from the kitchen. Amity tenses and casts her eyes over to the still dark doorway leading to it. Eda, King, and Luz all went to bed the last time she saw them. If any of them had come down, wouldn't they wake her up?

Amity silently drops down and makes her way to the doorway. She presses herself against the wall and hears the sound again only this time more clearly. Someone or something rummaging through the cabinets, placing objects around rather than taking them? Amity peeks over and catches the large shadow moving about the area.

A thief maybe? Amity doubts Hooty would be able to deter them but wouldn't he at least make some sort of ruckus? Regardless, it sounds like the robber is here for something and must have assumed everyone is already gone to bed.

She wonders if she could quietly get to Eda's room and wake her up. Luz already showed her where it is, but what if they're able to find what they're looking for first and leave before they can stop them? Luz would probably try to stop them first, the adorable dork.

Deciding the best course of action is to get Eda, Amity prepares herself to cautiously head up the stairs.

"Going somewhere?" Something bursts through the wall and wraps itself around Amity's waist and pulls her into the kitchen. The tendril lets go and sends her flying against the dinner table, breaking a chair in her landing.

She grunts in pain and looks up to see the strange tendril zipping back into the dark hood of one of the two strangers standing next to each other. Both of them are built but the one with the tendril has more mass than the other and a clear outline of a frog's body.

Amity felt shivers as she realized the slimy tendril must've been a tongue. "Well, well… a student of Edalyn Clawthorne. Imagine my surprise upon hearing that the infamous Wild Witch has not only taken one but two students," the smaller hooded figure spoke.

Two? Amity held her breath. Do they know about Luz as well?

Her body aches from the attack but Amity struggles up to her feet and clutches her throbbing hip. "Awfully bold of you to raid her place when she's home, as soon as she wakes up she'll-"

"Oh, I have no worry about that," the stranger interrupted, "She seemed pretty desperate for a certain elixir, which I happily gave her at a low cost."

Amity's eyes widened, "You… poisoned her!?"

"What!?" the frog stranger pulls down his hood revealing his shocked expression, "No, frawg! That's like murder to the first degree! We would never do that to Ms. Clawthorne, she's our idol! We just filled that elixir with an unhealthy dose of anesthetics so we could rob her blind."

"Idol?" Amity wasn't sure if she heard him right. She prepares herself by taking a combat stance while keeping her other arm behind her to conjure a glyph, "Do you two really think she is foolish enough to drink whatever some stranger sells her?"

The potion seller laughs then reveals one of his bottles, "Of course not, the drug is only a precaution. We had no idea where the Owl Lady lives but we managed to track her down with these." He pulls out the cork and shows it to Amity, revealing an embedded colored stone.

"Had you been upstairs at this hour like we planned, you would have been knocked out by the concoction I created that was spread throughout the second floor an hour ago. Not sure why the bathroom window was boarded but we managed to find one unlocked…"

Amity held her breath at the realization that none of them will be able to come down. They already attacked and it's only her against two or possibly more robbers in the house. The Alchemist who seems to be the leader here seems built but it's the frog that has the most impressive prowess of all of them.

It won't be easy, but Luz and the others could be in danger. Edalyn was kind enough to take her in, she can't repay that kindness by letting these guys do whatever they want with the place.

"Uh, Mr. Bossman?" the frog raises his hand.

The chemist leans back his head and sighs wearily, "What is it, Tibs?"

"So what do we do about the girl? She ain't asleep."

"Yes… I'm aware. Which is why you're here." The chemist growls, "Just rough her up and toss her somewhere so she won't be a nuisance."

"But uh... you said we wouldn't have to hurt anyone on this job."

"No, I said we wouldn't have to if everything went according to plan. And clearly it hasn't, that's where goons like you come in."

"Man, I don't like that word. It sounds offensive. Does it sound offensive? I'm just saying-"

Amity launches the offensive during their argument by conjuring her Abomination behind her. The purple being grabs her and with a spin throws her at the goon. She kicks him with both of her feet, sailing both of them back into the living room.

Tibs crashes onto the coffee table as Amity lands back on her feet. The stranger looks back to see the Abomination charging at him. He reaches into his sleeve and pulls out a green flask and lobs it. The flask shatters upon impact and the liquid contents stops the being in its tracks, causing it to convulse then dissolves entirely into a large puddle.

The chemist looked back and merely folded his arms together and watched Tibs rise to his feet. "Dang, girl. You know how rude it is to interrupt a conversation?" he groans.

"I don't know, it can't be as bad as robbing a place," she remarks.

"Oh, oh I see. You looking down on us thinking we're just a couple of foos trying to make quick, dirty cash? It ain't about the money, it's about the recognition!"

Amity raises an eyebrow, "Uh, what?"

"We're big fans of Ms. Clawthorne. Sticking to the system and practicing whatever magic she feels like? That's some serious nerves she got, mad respect. We want her to take notice of us. You know, like uh, honor among thieves, you dig?"

"... by breaking into her home and stealing?"

"I mean, what better way is there to have her recognize us? That's what he said." He points to his boss who merely shrugs.

Idiots. I'm surrounded by idiots. And this time it's the ones I don't like.

"We're not here for you, little one," said the Chemist, "You can just pretend nothing happened or tell your mentor that you were kept captive. We'll even help by keeping you tied up somewhere, hehehehe."

"That's… pretty creepy," Amity commented.

"Yeah, frawg. Not gonna lie, you should probably think these things out your head before speaking-"

"Just stop her already, you buffoon!"

Tibs immediately shot his tongue with incredible length and force, narrowingly missing Amity's head as it whizzed by and punched a hole in a wall. Amity, regretting all life choices, grabs the tongue with both hands and quickly draws a glyph with her feet. Another abomination rises and coats itself onto her. Using her creature's strength, she pulls onto the tongue and swings Tibs around and around, hearing his gurgling cries before slamming him into a wall.

The chemist takes his opportunity to charge at her, but Amity anticipates his move and commands her Abomination to suddenly lurch off of her. It lunges at the chemist and pins against the ground into a sticky mass.

"No!" he cries, struggling to break free. Amity wipes the gross saliva onto the couch before running up the stairs to find her friends. Her ears perked when she heard someone hurriedly coming down.

"Luz!" she calls out expectantly before her heart drops when she spots an unfamiliar figure. She jumps back as a tongue shoots out and pierces through one of the steps. She quickly calls her creature to catch her fall at the bottom of the steps then looks up at another frog intruder.

"Booyah!" Tibs shouted as he shook off the daze, "Bet you didn't expect TWINS!"

"Watsup, little girly?" the twin asks as he readjusts a large sack over his shoulder, "Dang what happened here? Tibs man, don't tell me you were struggling to beat a child?"

"She's Eda's apprentice! What do you expect, foo?"

"I expected you to be better, my bad. Yo Boss, I found someone wandering around and nabbed the other sleeping fella." Amity's heart stops when she notices the size of the bag large enough for a person of her size and someone smaller like King. The shape moves erratically on its own, clearly of someone struggling to break free.

"Ribs!" the chemist calls out to the twin, "Take care of that brat this instant and get this off of me!"

"Aight boss man, chill. Just let me-"

"Let. Her. Go." Amity's tone caught them all by surprise. Her eyes burn into the robber Ribs' soul, making his hands suddenly get clammy.

"U-uh, sure thing ma'am!"

"Don't, you idiot!"

"Ah, you don't s-scare me, aight? If you do anything funny then the little missy here will-"

"Touch her and I will make a new doormat out of you!" Amity's shout causes the robber to jump, giving her time to send her Abomination slithering along the ground then popping up in a form of a giant fist knocking him back. His grip lets go of the sack letting it fall tumble down the steps. Amity quickly goes to stop it before another tongue shoots across the room and wraps around her foot. Tibs yanks his head back and swings her into the couch.

"Hands off my brutha!" Tib slurs before receding back his tongue.

Amity growls and conjures a different glyph. A tiny spark ignites in the palm of her hand and develops into a large fireball. Tibs waves his hands at her, "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Careful with that!"

"Oh, we're past the point of caring here," Amity said.

Her eyes dart over to the sound of the Chemist managing to dissolve the Abomination gunk with one of his hidden vials again. He chuckles and gives her a challenging glare, "Go ahead, save your friend with that pathetic spell of yours."

Amity doesn't hesitate and lobs the fireball directly at Tibs still waving his arms. Instead of either jumping out of the way or brace for impact, he smiles then opens his mouth wide. He snaps it close as the fireball goes in and throws his head back from the impact. His chin bulges with an intense red glow. Amity stares in surprise as she realizes the fireball had no effect and seems to be growing even stronger…

"Oh crud." Amity jumps as Tibs spat back out the fireball in a form of strange slimy ball and blasts the couch into pieces. The impact threw her back farther onto the floor.

Tibs coughs out black smoke as his brother walks up next to him with the still struggling sack over his shoulder. "Betcha didn't see that one coming! That's right, sister, half-frog. Half-dragon. Two for the price of one!" the brothers high fives and bangs their heads together.

The Chemist strolls up to her and tosses a magical net pinning her to the floor. He takes out a flask and gives it a shake then sprays it open over the burning, ruined couch.

"A valiant effort, but even a student of Edalyn cannot defeat all of us," he turns to his men, "Keep her there, I'll go check upstairs and see if I can find something valuable. You should be proud, boys. You're about to become big..." The chemist goes upstairs and shoots Amity a grin before disappearing.

"He didn't just call us fat, did he?" Ribs asked.

"No, it was a Metal Four, foo. Like that one time he said we're a thorn in his side, but that can't be because we're dudes and not plants?"

"Then why say it like that in the first place? What reason do people need to say different things about stuff. Just speak your mind!"

Amity bangs her head against the floor, "Just kill me…"

The Chemist marvels at the interior before checking in every door. A house away from civilization and authorities would make a perfect base of operations. He wonders if he perhaps could become its new master once the deed is done. Though the strange Owl-Snake connected to the front door gives him the willies.

He stops before the door he presumes must be Edalyn's, noting the crayon drawing of a young girl hugging her taped onto it. He tears it down and slowly opens the door.

"Edalyn Clawthorne," the Chemist chuckles, "When Ol' Tibbles told me how you ruined both his businesses, I admit, I couldn't hold back my tears from laughing. Quite the entrepreneur he was, but my, what a nasty grudge he holds."

He reaches into his sleeve and pulls out a crooked dagger, "Normally this line of work falls outside of my profession… which is why I charge it for double the price. Farewell, Owl Lady-what the!? No, that can't be! Stay back! I'm warning you! AHHHH!"

~/~

"Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot and the chance of us being friends is slim to none, but I've been working on this for her for like weeks," Ribs pulls out a sweater with letter stitchings that spells, 'Life's a real Witch.' He grins excitedly and asks Amity, "So? Think she'll like it?"

"It's hideous, and I want to destroy it," Amity hissed.

Ribs chokes out a sob and lowers the sweater. "Hey!" Tibs snaps, "That was totally uncalled for!"

"No, it's alright," Ribs sobs and throws it onto the floor, "It's a stupid idea… stupid!"

"Why don't you guys just hurry up, get what you want, and leave already!"

"Not yet, little missy, gotta wait for boss-man to finish finding what he wants then we'll bounce," Tibs explained.

"What? You don't know what he wants?"

He scratches his head and looks over to his brother who shrugs back at him. "Uh… he said it would be valuable. I mean, we don't care about that kind of stuff. We just want her to notice us."

"Hope it's not something she needs, that wouldn't feel right with me…" Ribs sniffs.

Amity casts her eyes over to the human-sized sack feeling sick with worry. Could she have gotten hurt from the fall? "Please," she pleads to them, "Just open the bag and show me she's okay at least."

The two frogs look at each other and scratch their heads. "Oh… I don't know, Boss would probably get mad but…" Tibs groans, "Aight, just one peek. Don't do anything funny, you hear?"

He heads over to the sack and reaches for the closed knot but stops in his place when a piercing scream comes from upstairs followed by a deep guttural roar.

"W-w-w-what was that!?" Ribs cry.

"That sounded like the boss! What just happened? Is there something else in this house!?" Tibs looks over to Amity for confirmation but even she stares back in shock.

"Wait, didn't Boss say he heard Eda mentioning three people in her house? The adorable idiot?"

"That doesn't sound adorable at all frawg, you go check upstairs."

"What!? Why me?"

"Because you still owe me a soda from that bet we did, do this and I'll call it even!"

Ribs takes a moment to ponder the idea, "... yeah, okay. Uh… you'll come for me if something happens right?" Tibs gives him a thumbs up and worryingly watches his brother creep up the stairs as slowly and carefully as he can.

"Be careful, bro…"

A loud sound of an object hitting something in the kitchen causes Tibs to yelp in surprise. He held out his shaking fists in a boxer stance and stared at the entrance to the kitchen.

"Who's there!? Come on, this isn't funny, frawg!"

Amity darts her eyes back to the bag and calls out, "Hey! Something's clearly in here with us. If you free me, we can get your brother and stop whatever is here!"

Tibs quickly glances at her then back at the dark kitchen. Had she not mentioned his brother, he probably would still ignore her. "Fine! Just give me a sec," Tibs hurries over to her and pulls the magical net off of her. Amity almost felt sorry before quickly summoning her Abomination to grab him.

She rushes over to the bag and forces it open, "Luz, I'm here don't-what?"

"My hero!" King shouts and jumps onto her arms. Amity pulls him off of her and holds him up, "King? Where's… why are you still wearing that?"

King looks down at one of the dresses that Amity and Luz had him wear and looks back at her with an unreadable expression, "... my clothes were in the wash."

"Uh…"

"Where's Luz!?" King cried.

"I thought she was with you!" Amity looks back into the sack and pulls out a large Otter costume deprived of its owner, "Seriously!?"

Tibs roars as he rips the Abomination apart and angrily glares at the two. "I have just about enough of this! I'm getting my brother, and we're getting out of here!" Amity and King prepare themselves for another fight as he advances towards them. All their eyes however caught a thin object flying across the room and landed right before the frog accidentally stepped on it.

"What the? What kind of drawing is that?" He lifts his foot to get a better look, triggering the magic rune. Large vines rapidly grew from the parchment and entrapped him. Luz jumps and rolls in between them and holds out her hand of magical papers.

"Luz!" shouted both Amity and King.

She glances back at them, "You guys okay?" Before any of them could answer, Tibs broke free from the vines and charges at Luz. The human girl springs into action and slaps an ice rune below her, launching a column directly into his face.

Tibs falls back but shoots out his tongue at her, almost hitting her if Amity hadn't conjured an Abomination hand to toss her into the air. "King!" Luz calls out for help as she lands back onto the ground. The demon looks around then notices the ball they were using for their game earlier and passes it over to Luz.

"Ha! What are you going to do with that? Beat me in a match of four square?" taunted Tibs.

Luz slaps a paper onto it and kicks it in his direction. Tibs opens his mouth ready to catch it to throw it back onto them but as the ball spins, he notices in a split second the glowing rune getting brighter and brighter before creating a huge flash blinding him.

He instinctively braces himself but the ball sails over him and hits the front door instead. The door opens on its own with Hooty sticking his long neck in saying, "Hey! What did I miss?"

Tibs rubs his eyes before noticing something wet moving between his feet. Amity's Abomination grabs him in a full nelson for King to charge and kicks Tibs right in the chest knocking him down. He splatters the blob with his own weight, triggering the ice rune Luz planted and turning the puddle into a sheet of ice causing Tibs to slide outside and beyond the magical barrier in the exposed boiling rain.

The frog man stands up and screams as the rain hits him, "Ahhhhhhhhh-ah I'm just kidding. What did I tell you before? Half. Dragon!"

The girls just shut the front door. Hooty stares at the intruder who also stares back. Neither of them said anything for a moment as the rain splashed around them before Hooty broke the silence first with, "Do you like tea parties!?" then charges at screaming Tibs.

Luz dusts off her hands, "Well, that takes care of that one-oh!" Her words got caught in her throat as Amity pulled her in for a hug. Luz is touched by the feeling, yet somehow it feels rather… different having her be the one to hug first. She lets out a nervous giggle, "Haha, so we're all fine...?"

Amity realizes what she's doing and pushes Luz away from her, "Oh! I-I'm sorry!"

"N-no, you're fine!"

"It's just… it's been a long night."

"Yeah, yeah. I totally get what you mean."

"I thought you were… where were you?" Amity asks.

"I couldn't sleep for some reason. When I went to the bathroom, I started hearing noises downstairs but before I could get to you this other intruder nabbed King. So I-"

Another scream came from upstairs causing them all to jump. Amity remembers the noises from earlier and grabs Luz by the shoulders, "Luz! I think there's a monster upstairs with Eda! We have to go help her!"

"Monster? Luz, you don't think Eda-mmph!" Luz covers King's mouth from spilling anything and just smiles at Amity.

"That she might need help!? Good idea! Let's go!" The three rush upstairs as the screaming is still going. Amity recognizes the voice belonging to one of the frog brothers and sure enough finds him sitting on the floor pointing at Eda's room.

"It's… It's…" Ribs swallow as his entire body shakes.

Amity prepares a fireball in her hand, "Stand back, we got this!"

"Wait, Amity-!"

The monstrous roar fills the entire hallway as the chemist is suddenly thrown out of the doorway. His cloak got torn and has signs of burns, bruises, and a missing tail on his body. He scrambles wildly to pick himself up but trips in the process. Ribs manages to choke out his words and says, "It's… HER!"

Out of the room, Eda steps out and cracks her knuckles. "Hey kiddo, sorry about the noise," Eda holds out Luz's phone playing the audio file of a certain monster scream then tossing it back to her. Amity dissolves her magic and gives Luz a quizzical look.

"I woke Eda up the first chance I got, we would've come down sooner but we didn't want to risk them hurting you or King so we, sorta, improvised."

"Ha…" Amity felt the admiration of seeing Luz once again coming up with a plan to save everyone, "Haha! And I thought I was the hero here, you never stop to amaze me."

Luz felt a little funny seeing that smile saying such things about her. She nervously scratches the back of her head, "No es gran cosa…"

The chemist shakes his head, throwing his hood back revealing his lizard-like features, and stares incredulously at Luz, "Impossible! I gassed this floor with the strongest dose of sleeping agents! How were you able to resist it?"

"Because she's my apprentice," Eda shoots a proud look at Luz. Ribs' scream pulled everyone's attention back to him as he bounced up and down in excitement.

"Oh my frog! It's the Owl Lady! Oh man, I am freaking out! Ah, Ms. Clawthorne, I am your biggest fan. I collected all your wanted posters including the misprints when they colored your hair the same as your sister's by mistake. That one is a one of a kind!"

"Oh great, fans." Eda sighs, "You're here to steal my socks too?"

"Nah girl, me and my bro only wanted to break in and steal something to prove to you how good we are as a sign of respect. You're an inspiration to us!"

Eda frowns at the frog man then scratches her chin, "I can respect that."

"Eda!"

"Oh, 'Eda' yourselves! I didn't say I condone it."

"Quit squealing like a pig and help me, you moron!" the Chemist shouts, "And where's your brother!?"

On cue, the window to Eda's room shatters as Tibs tumbles in and crashes into her bookshelf. "Oops! Sorry, Eda!" Hooty shouted through the broken window.

"I have no idea what the heck that is but it gives me the willies straight down to my webbings," Tibs groans as he struggles to stand up then looks over to the group staring back at him. "What did I miss? Oh snap, is that the Owl Lady? Sup, the name's Tibs."

"Alright, let's get this over with," Eda summons her Owlbert staff to her side and takes position with Amity, Luz, and King huddling around her, "The sooner we get this done, the less damage I'll have to deal with. Stealing from me is one thing, but hurting my kids and trying to whack me in my own home is where I draw the line."

The brothers glances at each other then back at her, "What? We don't do murders, especially to our own idol!" Ribs explains.

"Oh? And I suppose your boss was trying to help pick my teeth with that little knife of his?" She points her staff at the Chemist who nervously glances away.

"What? Boss man, is that true?"

"You're going to listen to her!? You two of all people should know about that cunning tongue of hers! Now quit using those pathetic, empty jars you call heads and make an escape route already!" The Chemist throws his hands up in frustration then freezes when a certain object makes a loud clang below him.

Ribs and Tibs look down at the floor of the few objects that spilled from his coat. One of them being the crooked dagger as the source of the sound. Ribs sharply inhales and points accusingly at his own boss, "YOU!? TRIED TO HURT THE OWL LADY!?"

"It's for self-defense! I wasn't intending to use it!"

Tibs shot his tongue at the picture that fell from his coat too and grabbed it, revealing the image to be Eda with her eyes crossed out with red ink. "Then what is this!? Who even does this? This is what psychopaths do, man! Psychopaths!"

"You tricked us into trying to help you kill our own hero?"

Tibs cracks his neck and grunts, "Bro, I think it's about time we look for a new job."

"How about Garbage man?" Ribs slams his fist together, "We can start with this trash right now."

All eyes are now on him. The Chemist awkwardly coughs into his hand, slyly slipping two vials out of his coat. One yellow and another a certain, familiar purple color. "I can sense I have overstayed my welcome so I'll see myself out. Do give my regards to the piggy fellow who paid me." Amity recognizes the contents in the purple vial and quickly draws a glyph as the Chemist shatters both vials creating a huge wave of unstable Abominations at the group.

The Chemist jumps on and rides the wave out as the others all get restrained by the purple creatures except for Amity who manages to avoid it by hanging from the ceiling with her own Abomination. Luz looks up and calls out to her, "Amity!" and slams her ice rune onto the flowing sludge, freezing it solid. Amity swings back and forth and lets go to slide across it.

"Go get him, kiddo!" Eda calls out by shooting a gust of wind to boost her speed. The Chemist looks back seeing the ice spreading closer with Amity on his tail. "You're too late to stop me, child!" he shouts as he commands his abominations to launch him up in the air and onto the roof as they all emerge out of the window before being encased entirely into ice. Amity gasps as she slides off, falling to the ground.

"Hoot hoot! I got you!" Hooty catches Amity and uses the momentum to slide her along with his neck and launches her back into the air for her to grab onto the rooftop.

The Chemist runs across the rooftop and rummages through his satchel for the perfect potion to help. His head snaps up hearing something coming at him but turns too late and gets blasted by Amity's fireball. His satchel took the brunt of the attack and burned away, letting all his available vials spill free with most going over the edge.

"No! Stay back!" he stumbles to the floor and desperately claws at the nearest vials he has. Amity could tell there is nothing in those bottles that can help him in this situation by the look of his face.

"Enough games, already. Just turn yourself in," she demanded.

"To the Emperor's coven!? Never!" he stops short before the end of the rooftop and stares down at the drop. He looks back and holds up the colorful potions, "Look! I'm a genuine alchemist! I can offer you many things! An elixir for hair growth! An elixir for eternal beauty! An elixir to keep you energized on exams night!"

Amity steps closer causing the panic to rise in his voice. He pulls out a pink vial and says, "Or-or how about eternal love?"

Amity stops and stares at the vial, "A love potion?"

The Chemist sees her hesitation and breaks into a grin, "Oh yes… one sip of this and whoever you desire will be yours. Teenage years are so full of crushes and heartbreaks. Such experiences could not last on their own or even start. But it will all be yours, if you just let me go."

"Anyone I want… will be mine?"

"Anyone, my dear," the Chemist chuckles feeling his victory finally coming full circle until a sharp kick knocks the vial out of his hand and falls over the roof. The Chemist hisses and clutches his throbbing hand.

"Are you insane!?" Amity shouted, "You think I would be so callous that I would even consider letting you go in exchange for such a disgusting potion!? I hesitated because I couldn't believe you would offer an illegal substance like it's no big deal! That stuff can land you in prison for at least eight years!"

"Look I wouldn't do it if there wasn't a demand for it-"

"Shut it! I may struggle to face my own feelings, but I will not submit to such vile practices to satisfy them! I would never force her into that. If I want her to see me like the way I see her, then I want our feelings to be mutual. To be honest. To be real."

"Her? Oh, I was thinking of, like, some sports jock or something. My bad for thinking that, that's on me…" the Chemist coughs then whispers, "Just so we're on the same page… this 'her' is the human girl, correct?"

Amity glares then snaps her fingers for her Abomination to tackle him off the roof. The Chemist screams in terror before the purple blob absorbs him into its body mass to take the impact. He tries to force his way out but without his acid he is trapped for good. Amity watches him struggle from the roof and lets out a weary sigh knowing it's finally over.

She looks up at the sky, watching and listening to the rain hitting the magic barrier.

"I want it to be real… I wish it could…" Amity turned ready to get back inside but felt something round underneath her foot after the next step. One of the vials still on the floor slips out from under her foot causing her to tumble off the edge behind her. She screams, desperately flailing her hands to conjure another glyph couldn't complete the circle in time. The abomination restraining the Chemist couldn't move in time to help catch her. She closes her eyes and braces for impact.

"I got you!" a voice calls out from one of the windows before a tongue shoots and wraps around her waist to pull her back inside the house. She flies across the room before one of the frog brothers catches her. Amity opens her eyes and takes a moment to adjust before looking up at the monster that was assaulting the place.

"You aight, girl?" Ribs gently asks.

Amity shouts and socks him in the face causing him to fall over. "Okay… I deserve that…" he groans.

She looks around at the hallway covered in abomination grime with her friends wiping the stuff off themselves and at Tibs who saved her, currently comforting his brother. "Oh, sorry," she said.

"Amity!" Luz rushes to her and takes by the arms. Amity freezes by the sudden touch as she looks into her worried eyes, "Are you okay? You didn't hit your head on anything did you?"

"I'm okay, Luz, it was just a-HaaaAAAaaa!" Amity's mind went to mush as Luz placed her hands on her face to check for any wounds.

Luz leans closer causing her pitch to go even higher, "Amity? What's wrong? Does it hurt?"

"Not an outside wound, that's for sure…" Eda remarks with a grin. She turns her head to the frog brothers approaching her.

"Uh, Ms. Owl Lady… ma'am…" Tibs and Ribs bow their heads down respectfully, "We're really sorry about what we did. We're not smart, and we allowed our excitement to get the better of us and ended up hurting the people close to our hero."

"We're sorreeee!" Ribs bawled into his hands before her.

Eda cringes and lets out an annoyed groan, "Ugh, it would be much easier if you were just bad guys…" She waits for him to finish then crosses her arms, "Tell you what, if you guys want to make it up to me go dump that loser to the nearest jailhouse and comeback in the morning to help make some repairs to the house. I expect the costs to be covered-oh, and maybe clean out the gutters while you're at it… and I suppose the house could use a fresh coat of paint too..."

"And wash Hooty for a month!" King shouted.

"Oh no, you better respect the bet, little lady."

"Worth a shot…"

The frog twins beams and salutes, "Anything for you, Owl Lady! We'll make it up to you in any way we can!" the two excitedly run downstairs gushing about how awesome she is in person. Edalyn rolls her eyes with a smile, "The price of fame.." She turns to the girls and King and claps her hands together, "I say that's about enough excitement for tonight. How about we all hit the showers again to get this gunk off of us."

King raises his hand and shouts, "Dibs!"

"Oh! Let me wash you off!" Luz offered.

"No! Bath times are 'me time' not 'our time!'" King exclaims before running off with Luz chasing after him. Amity smiles and goes to follow before Eda places a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, mind if we talk? Star player to another?" Amity nods and follows Eda into her room away from the others. She closes the door behind her and leans against it.

"Is this about the game earlier? I didn't mean to point that out in front of everyone. That was rude of me and I'm really sorry."

"What? OH, right uh… my old lady hair…" Eda regretfully recalls, "Water under the bridge. That's not what I want to talk about. I've been thinking of a theory lately and like to share it with you. Would like you to hear it?"

Eda gestures her to come closer. Amity frowns but leans her head forward anyways to let her whisper into her ear. "So you got a thing for Luz?"

"What!?" Amity nearly shouts her ear off, "Hahaha! Very funny Eda, I can see where Luz got her humor from. BOY I really need some sleep, have a good night!" Amity desperately tries to reach for the door but Eda slams her hand against it.

"Nice try," Eda smirks, "I was young once too, believe it or not. Every kid gets infected with crushes at least once in their lives, and your symptoms seem to flare up whenever Luz is around."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Like turning into a tomato, right now."

"It's not-! It's anger and I'm tired!" Amity snaps while covering her cheeks, "With all due respect Ms. Clawthorne, I don't see why it's any of your business to probe my feelings and leap to conclusions!"

Eda clicks her tongue and chuckles before getting off the doorway. "You're right, normally I couldn't care less about this gushy stuff. I'm not your mom nor your mentor… or even a legal guardian, but I am looking after you. Making sure you're warm, clothed, clean, fed, and comfortable." She reaches over to Amity's hair and flicks off a bit of Abomination slime.

She grins, "I'm still working on most of them. If my 'probing' is making you really uncomfortable then you don't have to tell me anything. What would an old birdie like me know, anyway?"

Amity watches her head over to the window to inspect the damages then sparks the broom and dustpan to life and sweeps up the shattered glass pieces. She looks at the door, knowing full well behind Eda's words. She can either tell the truth or pretend this conversation never happened. She doesn't have to tell her.

It doesn't change the fact that she knows. She might pretend not to or maybe throw a few teases at her like that Magicball match. But if she leaves this room, then she won't have a chance to tell her. To let her bottled feelings go to someone who could listen.

Like what Eda said, she is not her mother… her mother wouldn't approve of her feelings.

"It's true…"

Eda glances over her shoulder to Amity still facing the doorway. She smiles proudly at the girl then smirks, "About what?" she tested.

Amity clenches her hands and spins to her direction, "I like her, okay!? I like Luz! I-I don't know when it happened. At first I thought she was just some dumb, mean girl back at Hexside. And she's… well she's still dumb but she's actually the nicest and sweetest person I ever met! She goes out of her way to help the ones she cares about and always works hard to get it! Like how she fought in my place as Grom Queen, she was so amazing and brave and I-I think that's when I can't get her out of my head. I love everything about her, especially how dumb she is! It's funny and cute! And… and… I'm scared… I'm scared of what will happen if she finds out… what she would say to me… what she would think…"

Eda stares wide at the girl trying to hold back the tears as her voice cracks near the end. Without looking away, she grabs a bottle of elixir and downs it in one shot before letting it fall to the floor and break for the broom and dustpan to clean up.

"Wow… you got it bad."

"You think…?" Amity sniffs. Eda walks over and gently takes her by the shoulders.

"You said you're scared? Why?"

"Why…?" Amity shakes her head, "We're just friends… she's a girl… and I'm a girl."

"And what's wrong with that?"

"I'm not saying there's anything wrong, it's just… not everyone can like a person in the same way like that. Heck, even I didn't know I would… it's confusing and weird."

"Hate to break it to ya, kid, but love is confusing and weird. Whether it's to a guy, girl, or some other intelligent species that is capable of feeling emotions, it will always feel weird. Take it from this Queen of Weirdos who had way too many experiences in dating: what you're feeling is normal.

"But I know it's what Luz thinks is the real issue here. Sadly, I don't know her enough to help you with this issue. Unless she has some crush on this 'Azura' character, I wouldn't know. I don't want to give you false hope and say maybe, but only she knows. You'll just have to see for it yourself."

Amity blinks then wipes away her tears, "What do you mean?"

"I'm going to offer you an idea to go with. It's going to sound horrible. It'll probably be the most painful and the most embarrassing moment of your life that will haunt you for a long time. And I can't guarantee it will truly help in the end. But who knows, you're clearly a strong girl. And there will be many hardships such as this in your life. Would you like to give it a shot?"

She nods as Edalyn lets go of her and places her hands on her hip. "Yank the band-aid off," she offers, "Tell Luz how you really feel. Confess."

Amity tucks her mouth inside to ponder for a moment, "... you're right. That advice sucks."

"Well you could be a little more constructive about it," Eda jests, "But think about it, would Luz really just abandon a friend over their emotions? That your interest in her will suddenly cause the girl to uncharacteristically to cut you out of her life just like that?"

Amity tries to think of an excuse but her words nailed it to the board. She gazes at the floor, realizing what she said. "No… she wouldn't, but…"

"But it doesn't make it any less scary, I know. Just because she won't disown you as a friend won't mean she'll accept those feelings either. Rejection is painful, probably the worst pain you'll ever have. There's no easy way through it. You either stay silent and suffer at the thoughts of what could be or confess and suffer the lost chances of what would never be."

Eda cups Amity's chin and gently raises her head to her eye level, "But there is a third outcome, of what might become instead. Maybe Luz would feel the same way and it could become a start of something new and wonderful. Wouldn't that be enough of a reason to give a try?'

To give it a try? Amity wonders a lot of what Luz would say but only the negatives. It's weird to think of someone you know like that. Getting stuck in those dreams will only make reality harder to face. To raise such high hopes would only make the fall worse.

Even so, Amity can't help imagining them together. Helping Luz learn spells, eating lunch together, studying together, and hanging out not just as friends but something more.

It's not possible.

But she wants to.

Her parents wouldn't approve.

They never do.

What would Luz say?

What would she say?

"I'm not expecting an answer right now," Eda gently strokes her hair away from her wet cheeks. The gesture left a warm feeling in Amity's chest and she responded with a smile. "Whatever you do, it's up to you. Just know you're not alone. And if you still think it's weird, then welcome to the family, kiddo. Nothing but weirdos living rent-free in this house."

Edalyn leans back and cracks her back, "Man, that's satisfying… I don't mean to pull the curtains on this chat, but we better get to bed before the sun gets here. I might be a little intimidating, eccentric, and drop-dead gorgeous, hehe, but if you need someone to talk to. I suppose I can lend an ear."

"I appreciate it," Amity opens the door then glances back before leaving, "and… thank you, Ms. Eda. I really needed that."

Eda chuckles, "If you really want to thank me… you both better figure out a way to get me some grandkids, once you two hit it off."

Amity's face went beet red and shot Eda a nasty look before slamming the door shut behind her. The Owl Lady busted out laughing and wiped a tear from her eye, "Oh man, I am going to enjoy this week. Heh, to think my Luz is able to capture the heart of a rich, successful girl. Maybe I ought to ask her for some pointers. Is there anything she can't do?"

Eda felt her smile go away when the Chemist's words came back to her. She gazes at the broken window, noticing the rain finally receded. She goes back out into the still dirtied hallway and quickly checks through each and every room.

She searches around for a moment before stumbling upon a storage room with an unlocked window and an empty large bottle below it. Edalyn carefully sniffs out the room, detecting a very faint trace of the sleeping agent the Chemist mentioned but luckily is too weak to have any effect now. She walks over and picks up the large vial and inspects the colored drops of liquid that have yet to evaporate.

"The man's a con-artist but I was lights out before Luz woke me up. And considering what he did to my house, he's no amateur cook either. Does this stuff just not affect humans?"

"Eda!" she hears King calling from the hallway following by rapid footsteps, "Oh my god, it's horrible! They broke the couch, Eda! They hurt our baby!"

"They WHAT!? Oh I'm going to give those idiot bros a piece of my mind once they get here!" Eda tosses the bottle in the nearest trash and storms down the stairs.


	5. Third Day, Part 1

“I want all walls covered, top to bottom, and even the hard-to-reach places. If you want to please me, then you better work like your life depends on it!” shouted Eda from below the ladder.

At top, one of the frog brothers, Tibs, is frantically dipping his brush into the paint can then carefully applies it to the side of the house. “Yes ma’am! You won’t catch me cutting any corners here!” he proudly exclaims, “Me and my bro couldn’t thank you enough for giving us another chance!”

“Oh please, who could say no to free labor?” she chuckles under her breath and drains the last drop of her coffee, “Now that your boss is counting his days behind bars, aren’t you both concerned that he already ratted you out?”

“We already ran over to our place and cleaned it out. We’re gonna bounce out of town and try that ‘laying low’ thing you do. We’ll just get what needs to be done here first before we go. Leaving matters behind wouldn’t sit well with me and Ribs.”

An admirable trait she admits, Eda would’ve bailed if the situation was reversed. She looks back down at her empty mug still feeling the morning lag. “I’m going back inside for a refill and will check on you later, keep an eye on that paint can at all times, got it?”

“Paint can?” Tibs wondered what she meant before looking down to find it missing. He hears the sound of sloshing and slurping and turns to see Hooty with his head inside the now empty paint bucket.

“What the-Hooty! Quit eating all of my paint!”

The owl whips his head back to throw out the can and reveal his white coated feathers. He burps and lets out a funny laugh, “I can see sounds, hoot hoot!”

“That’s the toxins talking, man! Do you even have a stomach to pump!? Hey-hey, get away from me! Hooty!” The Frogman grabs onto the wall as Hooty dives and knocks down his ladder. Tibs screams as his grip falters and he falls down from the second floor past the boarded window to the bathroom where Amity is currently inside.

She looks over wondering what the noise was before shrugging it off as a trick of the mind. “Okay, you can do this. It’s like what Eda said, just yank the band-aid off,” Amity gives herself another minute to touch up her hair in front of the bathroom mirror then turns her back against the door. 

She draws a magic glyph and watches the purple slime flow out of the floorboards and rise up into the air, convulsing and converging until it forms into a humanoid being. It lets out a low grunt then reaches into its stomach and pulls out a picture of Luz to hold with both hands.

Amity folds her hands together and takes in a deep breath, “Luz! Hey, so I uh… I've been thinking about you lately-not you! I mean I was but you see I was thinking of… wow I am bad at this.”

“uuuUUUugh” nodded the golem.

“You shut your mouth,” Amity snaps.

“You know what they say about opposites attract… that’s uh, how magnets work, hehe…”

“So you can study every coven at Hexside? If you’re interested in my course, I don’t mind giving you some private lessons-why did I say private!? I’m not insinuating anything! Honest!”

“What’s your favorite type of pie?” she snaps her fingers and points, “Mine is cutie pie… how’s that?” The Abomination shakes its head in disgust.

Amity leans against the sink and crosses her arms, “Oh, hey Luz. What’s that? You want to hang out? Sorry, I’m playing hard to get right now so I’m just going to pretend that I got better things to do than to-” The Abomination drew little tear dots with its slimy finger. “Ah! No, don’t cry! I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry!”

She lets out a frustrated groan and slides down against the sink. “This is one tough band-aid… I can’t even find a way to start telling her how I feel. What should I do?” Amity looks to her conjured being for desperate guidance. The golem holds up the back of the photo and writes something with its finger. It then flips it around to show three big words: ‘i leik u’

“Easy for you to say, can you even like anyone?”

The Abomination adds another word to the photo and shows ‘i leik u momi.’

“Aww… this is getting weird,” Amity claps her hands and sends her golem away. The photo gently sways to the ground and settles with Luz’s image facing up. Amity looks at it for a moment, still battling the terrible outcomes that will happen if she confesses.

“If only you felt the same, you probably would be better at this than I…” she sighs and gazes at the wall in front of her.

“... I should definitely burn that photo before anyone sees it.”

After a moment of cleaning up, Amity exits the bathroom and heads downstairs. Something smelling amazing hits her nose when she gets off the steps. Is Luz cooking again? She seems to already be up when Amity woke up this morning. Or it could be Eda this time. Maybe she would know a good way to break the ice with Luz. Assuming she won’t tease her again.

Amity enters the kitchen and looks over to the stove then lets out a scream. Ribs turns back and screams too, albeit in a much higher pitch than hers, before cutting himself off. “Oh! It’s just you, the scary girl with the scary eyes. How are you doing today?” he kindly asks before going back to stir the vegetables.

“Fine… wait no, what the heck are you doing in here!?”

“Me and my bro were invited, remember?”

“It’s not an invitation, it was a demand,” Eda corrected from the dining table as she reads from the newspaper.

“He’s outside right now repainting the house. I bought some groceries since we were going to be here cleaning up for a while. You haven’t lived till you try my special gumbo. It’ll take several hours, but it will be done by supper time. Oh frawg! Where did I put that stock?” Ribs look around the counter but hesitates to stop stirring the pot.

“I got it!” Luz rushes over with a large container and sets it down next to him.

“Oh, Luz Noceda, you are a diamond in the rough,” Ribs takes the container and gently pours it in. Luz turns to Amity and waves at her nonchalantly like she didn’t just help the burglar from last night with cooking.

Amity waves back before noticing the messy hair and the tiredness in her eyes. “Are you okay?” she asks.

“You mean this? Oh I just wasn’t able to sleep, heh, at all… it was a pretty exciting night.”

Amity shoots a glare at the frog who whistles loudly and stirring a bit faster, “Yeah… but not at all? Do you want to lay down and take a nap?”

The sound of screeching steam coming from the teapot got Eda to get up and take it from the stove and start brewing coffee. Luz waves at her worries, “Nah, I don’t want to waste the day away. A little cup of energy boost should be all I need.” Eda walks over to her with two steaming cups and hands one to Luz. The human takes it gratefully and goes for a big sip before spitting it back into the cup.

“Ah! Ah! Hot and bitter! So bitter and hot!” she whines.

“Thought you were talking about me,” Eda snorts then takes a sip and exhales, “That hits the spot. How are you feeling, kiddo? You want some?”

“I’m good, thank you.” Amity places her hands behind her back and fidgets after recalling their conversation from last night, now feeling real awkward with her standing next to Luz.

Of course, the human girl doesn’t notice anything as she desperately blows on her mug like she’s trying to inflate a balloon. She takes another sip and nearly gags from the taste again, “This is a harsh roast.”

“I told you, you can’t handle it. You know where the sugar is,” Eda watches her head to cupboards then rubs Amity’s head and whispers, “Ain’t she a keeper?” Amity lets out an embarrassed, suppressed whine causing a laugh to come out of her. Maybe the last night talk wasn’t such a good idea.

“I already contacted Willow and Gus if they’re down to hang out today. Since the weather is still a little humid, I figure we can head down the beach to cool off.”

“Beach?” Amity tenses, “Like, splashing each other in the water? Running around? Suntanning!? In _swimsuits_!?”

“If you want to tan then we’ll need to grab some sunblock, I can help apply some for you on your back if you do mine,” Luz innocently asks.

If Amity’s psyche was like a glass ball, it would definitely be shattered to pieces right now. “Sounds fun…” she mutters in a deadpan voice, “I’m going to go grab my things before we go.” She summons her Abomination who proceeds to scoop her up and carries her upstairs.

“Wow,” Eda proudly pats Luz on the shoulder, “Aren’t you a natural-born killer?” Luz raises an eyebrow at whatever she meant and watches her leave the kitchen. She hears a loud yawn from her little buddy King as he comes in from the back door.

“Is that coffee? This buddy needs that bean juice in his tummy,” King hops onto the counter of the half-full pot and downs the whole thing.

“Morning lil’cutie, I thought you were still upstairs with Amity, did you have trouble sleeping too?”

“Yup, don’t know my eyes wouldn’t stay closed at all. I guess that tends to happen when the privacy of your own home is violated by dangerous criminals that are now doing house chores and making us a home cooked meal.”

“I hope you guys like garlic, because there’s going to be an ungodly amount of garlic in this,” Ribs announced from the stovetop.

“If those guys are not gone by the next chapter, I’m going to leave a nasty comment. Anywho, is Amity done hogging the bathroom again with her love problems? I don’t mean to brag but I did like 10 laps around the house and need a quick rinse.”

Luz places her mug on the table and looks intensely at King, “Wait, love problems? Amity?”

“Yeah, that girl keeps retreating in there thinking no one would listen. I was hoping for a scathing and embarrassing secret but it’s just your typical, gross school crush thing. I nope’d out when she started practicing pick-up lines. Wouldn’t want to be that other girl, that’s for sure.”

“Amity?” Luz repeated her name feeling as if she somehow misheard him, “Crushes? A _girl_? Pick-up lines!?”

King frowns, “You broken?”

“Oh my gosh… I didn’t know, or I didn’t think… No wonder she’s been acting weird,” Luz takes a thoughtful sip from her coffee and tries hard to suppress the still bitter taste from breaking her concentration. She slaps her head, “I’m such an idiot!”

“Was that a surprise?”

“I've been ignoring her feelings all this time! To think she would carry on acting like everything’s fine when it’s not. How could I be so selfish!”

“Oh come on, it’s not your fault… I think. I don’t know. What’s going on here exactly?”

“Amity has a crush on someone that she wanted to ask out to Grom night before. I didn’t consider that she still is thinking about them. She must be devastated that she still couldn’t get them to notice her. Do you have any idea how painful it is to carry on all that suppressed emotions because you’re too scared to confront the person you have to see everyday!?”

“How do you teenagers live with yourselves?”

“We don’t, we _suffer_.”

“Huh, I can relate to that.” King nods.

Luz rubs her chin and paces around the kitchen, “To think it was another girl, I didn’t know Amity is interested in that sort of thing… could this girl go to our school? She would have to, right? Could I have already met her? Is she a monster?” Luz clutches her cheeks and gasps, “Could it be Willow? They were childhood friends, but Amity had to break it for the sake of Willow’s future. And all the years when they couldn’t be together had her yearning for their friendship developed into something more but she tries to bury it by bullying her. Oh man, even if it’s not the case, that would make one spicy novel. I should write that down.”

“Luz,” King snaps his fingers for her attention, “You’re doing that thing Eda told me to stop you doing again.”

Luz snaps back into reality and looks down at the pen and notepad in her hands. She tosses them aside and sighs, “You’re right, I’m just grasping for straws here. Maybe it’s not Willow… but maybe Willow would still know something about Amity to help. I should go pack up too!”

Ribs and King watch Luz run out of the kitchen and then upstairs. The frog turns to the little guy and asks, “I don’t mean to pry since you both were here talking out loud and all, but should anyone be concerned about her priving into her best friend’s life?”

“Shouldn’t you still be making dinner for us, guy-who-stuffed-me-in-a-bag-last-night?”

“I’m really sorry about that-”

“Sorry doesn’t heal traumas!”

~/~

“Ugh, they said they’d be here…” Luz leans her head back against the bench with Amity after nearly an hour of waiting. The humid air mixed with the glaring sun is slowly melting both the girls into their seats waiting for their friends at the spot they agreed on meeting.

Amity wipes her forehead and gazes at her scroll to check the time, “Should we just wait for them at the beach?”

“I don’t want to start without them… ah, these heat is sapping away my energy.” Luz raises before an idea comes to her head. She reaches into her bag and slaps the ice rune paper onto her head. Amity gives her a worried look and asks if she thinks that’s really a good idea.

“No worries, I've been getting a hang of these. I dare say I might be catching up with you,” Luz smirks while she fans herself with the rest of the paper runes. Amity just rolls her eyes with a smile and watches Luz tap the paper on her head.

The rune glows then morphs the paper into a small ice block, much to Amity’s surprise and Luz’s glee, until it immediately spreads rapidly around her face and traps her head entirely into ice. Luz sat there like a disco ball that grew a body to register the moment before letting out a muffled scream.

Amity quickly conjures her Abomination to break her free by turning one of its hands into a pick and the other a hammer. The ice shatters completely in one strike freeing the wide-eyed human.

“Well, that was refreshingly terrifying.”

Knowing that she’s okay now, Amity bursts out laughing bringing a smile to Luz’s face. “Guess I better be careful then,” Amity giggles while watching Luz shake her hair free of any ice particles.

Amity folds her hands together and casts her eyes to the ground thinking of a better idea than Luz’s plan. “H-hey, how about we get some iced coffees to cool us off? I know a place nearby,” she suggested.

“Ohlala, I haven’t been in one of those in a while. I do need to get Eda’s coffee out of my mouth,” Luz stuck her tongue out then hops off the bench. “Show me the way?”

“Of course,” Amity revels in victory of achieving her first step. Hanging out together to help break the ice, literally, at a joint where friends and couples go to could be just what she needs to overcome her love anxiety. Making it all the more easier to confess. Just as long as she doesn’t go with the terrible pick-up lines.

The two wonder through town until Amity points out the place where she frequently goes. “Ooh,” Luz takes in the sight of the place that strangely looks similar to the cafes in the human world. As they entered together, Luz felt the embrace of air conditioning and the smell of coffee beans. She guesses not everything can be so different between her home and the Boiling Isles. She wonders if the place also have a cute barista-

“Ah!” Luz shouts as a large tentacle slams down onto the counter to collect the change from a previous customer before receding back down towards the large squid-like creature with one giant, red eye staring slowly at its surroundings before settling onto the two girls.

Amity notices Luz’s terrified stare and says, “You did see that sign that said, ‘Kraken Koffee,’ right?”

“I thought it was a cute brand name. Why do I keep letting my guard down in this world?”

Amity waves at the barista who said nothing but waves back. “Nice to see you too,” Amity responded to the monster despite it still not saying a word, “I’m paying for both. I’ll have the usual.”

Luz lets out a squeak as the large pupil stares directly at her. A sudden ringing sound flooded her ears as if it was coming from the inside of her skull. Her vision slowly distorts with random flashing symbols and alien language as a cacophony of voices spoke out in perfect unison.

  
  


"̸̡̢̟̞̤̝̒̓̑͂͒̓͝A̷̢̫̻̓̊̔̿͠n̷̢̛̙͖̮̼͖̫̰͓̜̰̥̈͌̃̓̓̋͠d̸̰̝̜̑̉̐̉͆̈́̇̈̽̚ ̵̛̺͇͕͔̔̎̀̋̀̒̓͌̓͑̎͗w̵̦̖̗͕̗͉̌̿͋̉̽̓̀͝ḩ̴̨̺͖̺̞͛̉̃ͅa̶̢͇͙͛́̽͋͌̀͛̍̇̏͝͝t̶̛͓͚̤̣̎̋͂̂́̆͗͝͠ ̷̛̛̣̹͇̪͙̲̥̱̦̳̈́́̆̆̈̄͒̌̓̉̑̕̚y̸̨̦̦͙͇̘̳̮͂̂̇͝ǫ̸̡̛̛̥͚͚͍͚̻͍̬̇̐̐̔͗̎͂̍̓͝ų̷̡̖̹͎̪̮̯͔͍̦͎͛̑͒̂͜͠ͅ ̷̡̡̡̰͚͈̩̽̈́͋̌̾̇̓̈́͒͌̓̑̚w̴̡̛̖̙̉̓͛̈́͘͠ô̵̡͔̼͉̪̘̰̺̑̎͆̿̄̓̌̅̂̀ͅu̸̢̜͉̲̖̪̰̖͎̣̼̮͖̠̪̒͆̂͐̄͒̚͝͝l̵̯̳̈́̽̈̓́̈́̈́͌͝ḑ̴̥̳̈̄̍̓̌̓͆̑̆͂̂̅͝ ̴̱͙̞͈̺̜̭̳̼͗͋̆̓̉̐͝l̵̲̓̽̈͝͝i̸̢̭̪̲̾̄ͅk̵̰̒͆͑̕ȅ̶̺̭̩̫͚͓͉͗̃̔̎͌̽̒̚͝ ̸̡̧̙͔̟̖̰̠̬͚͙̭̰̌̐̈́̽̐̇̆̋̐̈́͗͘̕t̷̙̣͔̘̩̺̫̟͗̐͊̑̉͊͒͂ơ̶͍͎̠̺̹̭̰̈́̈́̍͋͐͗̑͛͋͝͝d̸͈̤͓̔̉̏̿a̵̢̠̝͔̻͖̰͆̑͛̄́̓̃̄͆̌̾̈ẙ̴̡̛̛̪͕̼̯͉̱̘̳͕̭̼̭̩͊̀̽̈̾͝,̴̤̯̤͓͑͑͋̕ ̵̭͎͓̯͙̻̜̉̉͑̒́̔͋̇y̷̢̧͈̙̦͎̦͎̟͍̻̦͙̦̏͒͑̅̉̿̌͋͆̃͗̈́̈̚͠o̴̡̡̜̫͖̰̳͕̘͙̓̔́͆̓̑͛̎̀̌̃͘͘̚u̷̺̩͈̣̘͙͈͖͌͑̈́̅̌̈́̉͋͜ņ̷̣͚͔͍͂͆̀̚g̶̡̙̗̝̬̦͇͍̝̺̲͍͎̲͗̇̂̐ ̷̡̫̱͚̤̺̠̖͎̖̟̹̍̾̏̔̇̅̂͘͠͝ļ̷̟̠̱͕̮̩̺͍̰͔̩̟͛̇̑̍͑̒̔͋̿̈́͝ą̷̨͇̲̹̳͙̠̮̣̯̔͌̽͋̌d̶̡̧͚͚̱͓̫̜̘͍͚͇̖̂̾͊͂͆̂̐͌͊͗͘͠͠y̴̼̮͕͆̓̍͐͒̽͆͌?̴̧̛̗̪͚̳̽̑͋͌̈͆̓̒͠͝͠͝͠ͅ"̷̛̺̎͗̔̈̌̈́̈́͠

  
  


Luz snaps back into normal reality with Amity and the creature, whose name is apparently Joey, waiting patiently for her order.

“... I’ll have what she’s having… hehe…”

The Kraken went to work on their orders with the available appendages as Luz pulled Amity aside desperately wanting to find a seat far from the eldritch barista. After waiting for a few minutes, one of the appendages reaches over to their table with a tray carrying both their drinks and another to distribute them and collect the payment from Amity.

Luz takes a hesitant sip from her cup. “Mmm! This is good! Not sure if it’s worth the horrific mind reading,” she says before eagerly going for another sip.

“It’s his way of knowing how to prepare the perfect drink, you’d get used to it.” Amity takes small glances at Luz enjoying herself while she fiddles with her own straw. Watching her being her usual fun self just makes her heart yearn. Her anxiety still fights with her but she remembers Eda’s words.

 _Like pulling off a band-aid._ Amity carefully prepares for her opening. The scenery couldn’t have been more perfect with the lack of surrounding customers and how the concept of love means nothing to the mindreading barista. This is her moment to strike.

“Mind if I ask you something?” they both asked. Amity freezes as Luz is taken back by the timing and says, “Sorry! You first.”

A minor setback but it was just enough to scramble her thoughts. Amity coughs, “Uh… no, you go ahead! I still haven’t drunk mine yet, I’m really parched!”

“Oh okay then,” Luz shrugs, “We been having this sleepover for a while now, but we never get to have… you know, ‘girl talks’”

“ _Girl talks_?” Amity smiles at that, “You mean just socializing?”

“You know what I mean! Telling each other secrets and stuff like they do in the shows. I always wanted to try that sort of thing,” Luz explained with a sheepish grin.

Amity rolls her eyes but decides to play along, “It’s not that different, but you’re always welcome to.” She goes in for a long sip.

“Great! So got any crushes?”

Amity sharply inhales during her sip, causing the coffee to flood her nostrils and go down the wrong hole. She covers her mouth coughing and desperately pulls out a bunch of napkins from the dispenser on their table.

“Let me help!” Luz reaches over to gather the napkins for her and clean off the small spill. Amity excuses herself to the bathroom as her cheeks go maddening red with embarrassment. After a few minutes, Amity returns with her cheeks still slightly flustered and plops down. All the confidence and mental preparations to confess have left the building.

Luz jabs her own drink with her straw feeling guilty over the ordeal, “Guess that was pretty personal, sorry.”

“No!” Amity mentally slaps herself for the quick response. No? Why did she just say that? It was the perfect moment for her to opt out. It’s even “It just caught me off guard, is all. Uh… what brought this up?”

“It’s just a thought, you know,” Luz lied, “You've been in this place longer than me, obvy. You’re telling me there isn’t anyone that caught your eye? Maybe... someone you wanted to ask to dance at Grom?”

Amity felt cornered against the wall by Luz’s prodding. Considering the disaster earlier and the lingering coffee smell in her nostrils, she is in no shape to make her confession. She squirms in her chair for a moment then irritably snaps with, “If you’re so curious then w-what about you?”

“Me?” Luz ponders for a moment to herself. Amity seemed pretty defensive about the question, it wouldn’t do good for her to press. Perhaps if she opens up herself it might get her to do the same?

“Well… no one in particular.”

“No one…?” Amity felt a little reprieve from the change of subject yet her response still troubles her. Now it was her turn to pry as she fakes a cough and says, “Then… what kind of person, if you don’t mind me asking, of course.”

“Not at all, it’s only fair. I would like a hot, mysterious guy with a dark backstory. But he also has a heart of gold and is willing to help out the people around him.”

Amity already felt the shot through her heart at the mention of ‘guy,’ everything after that was just salting the wound. She suppresses the feeling of tears coming and coughs again, “I… I see… that’s-”

“But I’m mostly kidding of course. If I had to say, realistically, I would prefer someone who gets me.” Luz takes another sip and plays with her straw, “I’m obviously a bit much to handle. Maybe it sounds like I’m setting the bar low, but I would like to meet someone who just likes me for… me, you know? I haven’t yet gone out of my way looking for that type of person, but maybe he or she could even be in this crazy world too.”

Amity snaps her head up and gives her an intense look, “Did you… did you say ‘she?’”

Luz shrugs, “Yeah, whether it’s a hot guy or a pretty girl, I wouldn’t mind if either of them takes an interest in me. I would also like someone who laughs at my jokes, has some things in common, and knows a bit of Spanish. Oh, but most importantly someone who enjoys the Good Witch Azura series, not saying they can’t date me if they don’t like it. But come on, who wouldn’t like it? At least give it a try-Amity? Is something up?”

Luz has seen Amity smile a few times before, but it was the first she ever this look like a child opening their presents on Christmas morning. Amity flutters her eyes and giggles, “Hm? Nothing, don’t mind me. Please, go on.”

“That’s… pretty much all I have to say,” Luz doesn’t know what to make of this, but she’s really glad that Amity’s mood has completely flipped for the better. She felt tempted to ask about her crush again but she only just got her feeling better from the incident earlier. Maybe once they hit the beach, she could-

“Since you asked… I guess I could tell you a bit about this person I like.”

Nevermind then. Luz eagerly leans forward with just the straw still in her mouth.

Amity felt her heart rising again, now feeling encouraged to give it another shot. “This person I wanted to ask out… you actually know her,” she fiddles her fingers under the table and taps her foot against her own chair to fight off the nerves, “She’s really kind and looks out for the people around her. She always ends up in trouble, but manages to do what a lot of people couldn’t believe to be possible. And she is really funny too…”

Luz sets down her cup and raises an eyebrow, “... Willow?”

“Willow!?” Amity slams her fists onto the table dumbfounded by this girl’s density. “Of course not! I said funny! She doesn’t even tell jokes!”

“Geez, sorry that’s such a bummer to you.” Amity turns around to both Willow and Gus giving her strange looks while her fists are suspended in mid-air.

“I thought that was you, what took you guys so long.” Luz hops off her seat to pull them into a quick hug. She then places a hand near her mouth to whisper, “Amity, you can put your hands down now.”

“Sorry we took so long, had to double check on my illusion copy to see if he’s actually doing the chores I was supposed to do,” Gus explains.

“We were on our way to the spot until we noticed you both through the window,” Willow folds her arms and gives them an accusing glare, “Since my name was mentioned, I think I deserve to know what you two are talking about.”

Amity fumbles onto her words before letting out a “meep!” as Luz places her arm around her shoulder. “Aw we were just talking about who's the funniest person in our group. Guess Gus wins by a landslide.”

Willow raises an eyebrow at that while Gus silently pumps his fist in victory. She doesn’t fully believe her but Luz doesn’t strike her as someone who talks about people behind her back even if it's with Amity. She shrugs it off “Alright, you mind waiting just a bit longer for me and Gus to get drinks for ourselves before we head out?”

“Go right ahead,” Luz gestures them with her free arm to the still-terrifying barista. She whispers to Amity once they’re out of earshot to say, “Nice save, huh? So does this girl go to our school or-”

Amity pries herself free and runs out of the place, “The moment’s ruined! I’m gonna wait outside!”

Luz watches her go and frowns at missing her chance. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turns to the tentacle that points back at the kraken before it forces into her mind again with,

  
  


"̸͔͓̺͚͓͉̺̫̓̑̅̊̈I̶̡̭͗͌̿ͅ ̴̧̹̫͔́̇f̵͓̤̯̼̼̳͔̥͆̋̿̐͌͘̕ȯ̷͕̝̬̘̤̟̞̒͒̌͠͠ͅṙ̵͍͈̻̠͎̃̅̕͜͠ͅg̵̢̼͓͎͎̜̱̞̞̼͑̈̿̂̄͛̔̽̏̚͝ǭ̴͈̳̗̺̣̟̯̗̥͕̾͛̑ͅͅţ̶̛͙̟̩͉̻̂̈̀̂̏̐͘ ̵̦̳̬̱́͑͑͘t̷̖̬̻̘̖͋͒͛͋̽̄͌̓̅͜ơ̸͙̬̤̱̼̗͕̱̞̬͎̠̓͐̋͜ ̸̰̮̬͈̦̦̠̮͙͋͊̆̔̇͑à̴̟̙̩̖͊̒̉̾͋̐̄͘s̷̳̫̪̮͋͋̈́̍̍̇͆̓̚͘̚k̵̛̤͓̻̼̃͂̐͋̋̏̅̿͒̽͝,̸̨͉̍́̇̽̔̃̅̒̉͘̚͝ ̷̢̠͙̯͓̟̥͉̪̗̬͔̠̍́͂̈́̍̈́̍̈́b̴̪͕̻͍̲̓̈́̀̏͒̂̇̎͌̇̌͋͘̚͝ų̴̨̩̥͕̘̪̣̱͙̑͊t̵̡͇̞͎̤̜̫̙͎̺̋͛̿͑͜͝ͅ ̸̪̫̥̖̯̱̘̫̜̜̜̖̀̏͋w̷̢͚̟̖̝̥̭̦̰̰̃͆̒̈́̄͘͝ỏ̶̝̅̀̀̿͑͂̈͐̄̅̈́͗̕͝ų̶̲̗̱̱͓̝̺͉̳͔͕̟̇̈́͑̄̂͜l̸̛͓͚̗̹̯͎̖͖̦͍͍͋͐̆̂̈́̽̆̏̇̏̅͗ͅd̵̛̯̩̬͍̞͍͓̗̩̥̈́̈́̋̍̽̑̂ ̵̫͔̦͚̖̝̦̼̠̏͆͆̾y̶̢̨̨̲̗̪̏̈͐͗͆̄͘͘͜͜͝o̷̧̡͓̫̙̹̮̲͇̘̗͓̻͍͌̐̿͗̌͜͝͝u̶̢̦̲͎͓̰͊́̿̂ ̵̢̧̢̟̖̜͉̟̰̼͚̖̟͗͐͆͐̇̅̓̑̆̚͝͝ļ̶̜̼̳͕͈̘͙̖͉̥̰̳̼͈͌̒̓͊̿͠į̵̭̦͔̳̻͈̫͍͇̭̠̠͓̋̅͋͊̈̃͠k̶̙̙̱̱͇̪̪̝̤̙͕̖̱̃͆̿̓̂̾̾̄̐́͊̓̅ę̷̧̩̬̬̫̖̞͓̦̳͕̙̼̽̑̽͊̈́͆̚ ̸̰̰͍͇̹͒́̚ͅț̷̫̝̼̳̦̮̱̪̜̹̥͆͑̓̈́́͑͘o̸̡͖̫͑̉̉͛̆ ̸̟͇͊̉͆͐̋͗̄̾̒̌ḑ̸͖͍̱͔̙̭͖̑̎̽͐̑̕͝͝ȍ̵̢͖̝͖̠̤ń̶̦͉̩̖̥̂̿͋̏̈́̾̚͘͘͝å̶̢̧̱̪͔̘͖̰̻̈́͑̐̆̋̇͝ţ̷̧̤̞̯̮̰̹̈͌̎̍̂̍̌̈́̾͘ë̵͇͕̞ ̶̢̧̩̯̯̺͕͖͛͂̌͐̐͛̌̄̉̌̐͊ṭ̵̐͂̓̎̍̾̄̕͘o̴̡͇̱͖͇̙̙̞̻͍͙̙̜̗̽̅̔̓̌͑́̏͋̈́̃͛̉͝ͅ ̴̢͈̻̩̖̘͙̆̈͌̓̈́̚͝o̸͚͍͍̘̻͑̍̄̈́̈́̓̎u̴͉̓͂̀̆̈́̀̉̆͒̇ŕ̸̢̡̛̞̙̒̚͝ ̸̳͇̻̻̻̹̜̠̆̄̆͋̐̚͜͝͠ḷ̶̡̨̣̬̥̩̼͕̩̤͎̽͆̎͊̈́̎̕͝o̸̧̪͚͎̭̫̳̫̬͂ͅc̴̨͕̻͇̰̗̭̣͕͙͆̈́̏̀̓̈́̕͝a̶͖͙̜̟͔̞̰͈̱̍͆͗̓̀̂̈́̍̀l̸̨̞̲̳̻̼͇̟͙͙̂́ͅ ̴̠̌̈̎̈́̓̇͘͘̕͘f̴̢̢̡̛͓̖̥̟͇̪̥͗̍͑̀̋͛͋̄̾̊͜ŭ̵̡̨̡͙̞͈̖̜̳̠̀̅͂̆̀͋̀̎̀̽͐n̷̪͓̟̳̩̜͉̿͆d̵̞̲͖̩̤͖͖̘̼̳͛͂͒̌̆͘͘͝r̵̢̩̖̖̣̖͎̙͔̭͉͉͋̒̒̒͗͒̌͘͘̕͝͝ą̵̢̧̼̺̼̞̬͕̦̤̳̜̪͍̑̀̚͝i̴̡͉͓̤̠̮̞̳̔́͂͑͒̈́̅͗̿͑͛͒̓̀ş̶̢̘̺̣͉̹͍͔͕̫̼̗̞̣̐̍̆̓̔̈́̄̈́͆̈́͝i̴̝̲̥̓̍̉̎̾̕͝n̵̢̧̧̛͇̣̬͇̣̣̘͓̞͐̅̿͒̂̓͝͝g̴̨͚̫̞̯͚͛͜ ̴̗̞͛̈́̓͑̈́͋̀̌̎͊͠o̵͕̣̓̐̐̃̑̉̕f̴̨̡̧̛͕̲̳̼̖̫͔̟̤͖̊͂̍̈́̑̑̒̆̆̄͂͌͜ ̸̛̛͎͎̳͇̺̯̱͕͙̎̂̒͐̎̿̂̐̌̑͘ā̶̛̛̛̙͔̠̆̂̇̓̍͂̌̚d̷̢̧̝͉̯̆̇͘͜d̵͇̰͎͛í̴̦̠̯̭̜̔̔̏̆̾͊̂̔̈͆̚͠͠ṅ̸̹̞̟̺̮͚̿͊͑̋͐̉̂͘g̸̢̘̲̻͕̞̹͇̞̪̣̥̭̼̲͆ ̷̛̪̰͉̲̳̻̦̥͚̝̎̄̄̀͗̒̓̒̌̐̓͗̍͠ͅm̸̡̡͙͉͙̹̹̥̰͚̗͔̣̄̉̍̊̍̀̃̎͋͜o̵̲̰̤̳͓̱͙̳͓̊͆́̏̿͑̀́͂̈̈́͂̍͜͝r̵̰̩̺̤̣̖̓̆͛̓͗̊̎̂̏̎̆̑̌ͅė̷̩̱̜̺͕̉̀͂͌͋ ̸̗͒̐͗̏͂p̵̻̏̐̓͠l̸̢̧̡̛̞͈͚͇̹̺͎̰̜̹͊̈́̔̎̂̕a̸̛̺̹̩̼͎͎̤͎̲͒̀̈̈́̏̃́́͂̔y̴̨̢̡̥̩͇̼̩͎̲̩̪̅̍͐̓̕͠g̸͔͈̘͝ŗ̴̜͎͉̤̂̊o̴͖̥͆̈́̒͑̀̍̾̈̂̔̿͋ͅů̸̩̤̣̩̰̱̻̗͋̋͛̏̃͐̚n̸̡̧̖͚̺̗̱̗͕̜͇̲̆̆͊̔̄͜d̶̡̧̧̡̝̼̟̭͔͙̩͇͙̘̄̉̐͛̎̊͊́̈́͝s̴͓͎̜̼͐͠͠ͅ ̶̡͕̭̚f̴͈̺̪̩̻̲̝͈̯̩̦̠̓͂̉̇ȍ̵̡̢͕͇͓̻͚̲̦̹̯̭̞̭̦͆̽̂͌͝r̶̨̻̲̲̐̇̅͐͌͂͒̂́͛ ̷̡̢̛͚̦̲̙̗͙͑͌͐̍̀͆̊̈̈́̏̈́͠͝t̶̩̲̺̟͍͉͓̮̬͎̩͎̩̬͇͊̅̐h̶̺̘̲̥͕͌̑̈́̀̓ė̶̠̜͇̃̄̽̎̂̓͐͘ ̴̢̗͋͆̒͌̓̈́͊̍̈́͘͝y̷̝̽̕o̶͓͓͎͂͊̏͊͑̎̓̿͐̏̏͒̎͛̕u̴̙͔̝̼̤̫̽n̶̛͓̤͔̗̬̪̠̜̻͋̀͆͊̓̐͊̈ğ̵̢̧̝̣̠͇̜̙̯̭̇̈́-̵̠̭̼̖̥̫̟̲͘͜ͅ"̸̛͖͕͎̦͕̹̉͂͌̈́͋͐͌̑͑

  
  


“Agh! I’ll do it! I’ll do it! Please, just stop!”

~/~

Amity waits outside of the changing area watching the kids running around the beach side. She remembers how she always wanted to go to the beach as a kid but her parents didn’t see the point of splashing in dirty, salt water and sand with random strangers. And ever since her and Willow’s fort was taken down, she never felt the need to go again.

A sad memory, but Amity’s mood is overpowered by her joy and excitement of what she learned about Luz. _She said ‘she!’ I’m a She! And I already like her for who she is! All I need to do now is to tell her how I feel!_

_Sure, now we’re with company and the idea of confessing in front of them makes it way more embarrassing. And there is a chance Luz could say… no! Don’t think about that! Just don’t get your hopes up and don’t let your spirit waiver either! I just got to isolate her from them somehow and rip that band-aid!_

“You're still out there, Amity? We’re coming out!” Luz calls from within the locker room.

_Oh they’re done changing… into swimsuits… right, because we’re at the beach and-oh crud._

Luz and Willow emerged out of the building together and shielded their eyes from the glaring sun. Luz let out a big yawn and fought off the tiredness in her eyes by rapidly blinking. “You feeling alright, Luz?” Willow asked, noticing the lack of energy.

“Oh, I’m fine. You know what they say about sleepovers, ‘no sleep till it’s over!’ Ain’t that right, Amity?” The two girls turn their heads to Amity walking up with her back facing towards them and her arms out like she’s carrying trash bags in each hand..

“Yup! Whatever you say, because boy you sure did!” 

Nevermind about Luz, Willow is now concerned about Amity’s odd behavior. She tries to see where Amity is staring at but nothing noticeable caught her eye, “Is there a reason you’re facing us like that?”

“Nope! I’m just looking because, wow, what a nice day! Haha!” Amity forces out a nervous laugh then sees Gus approaching in front of her.

“Heya guys, whoa Luz you’re wearing that?”

“Huh?” Amity sweats.

“I told her it’s too much,” Willow said, “You know how many people are going to see that.”

“What? It’s snug and comfortable. Who cares if it's a little flashy.”

Amity draws in her breath and shakes away the thoughts. Perhaps anyone else in her position would be fooled, but not her. Of course they wouldn’t be referring to Luz’s swimsuit. She’s not foolish enough to believe Luz would wear something… like _that_.

Still, Amity is too curious now and realizes how dumb she looks with her pose. She turns around to look, and indeed, Luz stands before her in a modest one piece with a swimming cap on her head, goggles, two arm floaties, and a waist floaty that has a unicorn with one eye head sticking out.

_Oh no, she’s so cute!_

“Did you put on any sunscreen yet, Amity? Your face is getting red already,” Luz leans over to take a better look but Amity jumps back.

"Of course! I just burn easy, so let’s get in that water already! Race you there, Greg!” Amity takes off with Gus taking a second to look around before realizing she meant him. “Greg!? Do you seriously don’t know my name? It’s Gus!” he shouts while chasing after her.

Willow laughs and looks over to Luz, “You know, if you had told me that me and Amity would hang out together at a beach again, I wouldn’t believe you even if you cast a charm spell on me.”

“Isn’t that how they work-oh! Right, _figuratively_ ,” Luz points at her with both hands and clicks her tongue. They both head down to the shoreline where the others are at. Sensing it to be the best time now, Luz stops Willow for a moment, “Sooooo… now that we are all friends, and you two known each other as kids…”

Willow narrows her eyes, “Yeah… what about it?”

“Oh, just wondering if you would happen to know… who Amity’s crush is?”

Willow recoils as if she just received a sucker punch, “What!? Why would I know that! And why do _you_ want to know that?”

“No it’s okay! Amity was going to tell me anyways.”

“Going to? That doesn’t sound like consent to me,” Willow sighs and squeezes the ridge of her nose. Once again, Luz comes up with another shenanigan that could lead to trouble.

“It is! Amity’s just embarrassed about it. She already told me a lot about her, so there’s no harm in finding out the rest, is there?”

“Her?” That took Willow by surprise. She did recall hearing her wanting to invite someone to Grom. Despite her better judgement, Willow couldn’t help feel a little intrigued. Though they are better terms, Willow still hasn’t forgotten the years of Amity’s treatment of her. Maybe knowing a little secret wouldn’t be so bad, after all she has no intention of telling anyone else.

“And you swear Amity told you?”

“Scout’s honor!”

Willow sighs still feeling guilty to even consider the idea, “Well… I suppose if you point them out, I could see for myself if they could potentially be someone she would like. But Amity changed a lot since, and I don’t recall us talking about crushes since we were kids.”

“That’s fine, Amity already gave me a checklist of who this person might be. Say let’s stay on a lookout for this mysterious crush of hers,” Luz walks off before Willow grabs her by the arm.

“Wait! You’re looking for them now? And here? How do you know?”

“You saw the way she’s acting. She was staring off in the distance because she must have seen _her_!” Both of them look over the beach where they can see many kids around their ages doing various activities in both the water and sand. Willow is now regretting to be a part of this and decides to forcefully push Luz towards their friends.

She grunts as Luz scoots across the sand with her feet dragging along, “We came here for a good time, Luz! Not to play ‘love detectives!’”

“Right… we got to blend in as well, can’t let Amity know what we’re up to, huh?” Luz points and clicks her tongue again.

“Stop that!”

~/~

“Chicken fight! The rules are simple: each of us grabs a buddy and gets on their shoulder. The two on top will have to fight trying to knock down the other first,” Luz explains as the group enters the water, now without her waist floaty that is sitting on their spot to watch over their stuff.

“I love this game! Let’s do this, Willow!” Gus swims over to his friend. Amity already saw this coming considering the track record, but still couldn’t help get jittery as Luz lazily floated towards her.

“Want me to be the vehicle?” Luz offers by extending out her arms.

“Can’t I just use my Abomination?” she quickly added.

“You know that’ll contaminate the water, silly.” Luz gestures to the tower high chair where a huge, bulking prison guard who apparently also works as a lifeguard points to the sign next to him showing the cross out symbol of Abominations swimming.

Amity looks back down at her hands feeling more nervous but also excited for another chance to be carried. She recalls back how she missed her opportunity to carry Luz when the girl got knocked down by Hooty. Perhaps a different position can help to calm those nerves.

“I’ll carry you!” she cracks.

“Oh, okay! Alley-oop!” Luz uses Amity’s back as support and hops onto her shoulders then clings onto her head with her legs. “Wow, that sun is really not being kind to you, your face is really hot.”

“Haaa…” Was all Amity could say in response. Thinking nothing of it, Luz points forward and yells, “Onward my steed! Tonight we shall dine on victory!” Luz waits for a moment for Amity to start moving but notices no effort was being made. She looks down at the tomato girl with her wide-open eyes staring in the distance but at nothing in particular.

“... I said, onwards! Right now… please…? Amity? You there?” Luz waves her hand over her face but solicits no response from the majestic steed.

“Come on, Amity! At this rate, Gus and Willow are going to win!” Luz looks out but only spotted Willow standing at ground level in the water. “Willow? Where’s Gus?”

Both their eyes look down at the rise of bubbles followed by gurgling sounds coming from below Willow. “He insisted on being the horse,” she explains.

The group decided to switch up the players. This time with Willow on top of Amity while Gus is on top of Luz. “Now that that’s settled, CHARGE!” Luz shouts as her and Gus yell out their battlecries. Despite their ferocity, their assault is greatly impeded by the waist deep ocean water and the combined weight.

“Maybe we should’ve started a little closer,” Willow shouted from eight feet away. She looks down at Amity who merely shrugs before an idea comes to her head. “Hey Willow, have you ever manipulated ocean plants before?” she asks.

The girl grins back, “No, but there is a first time for everything.” Willow’s eyes glow as she extends her hand upwards causing vines of seaweed to pop out of the water and grab onto Luz.

“Ah! Magic Chicken Fight!” Luz screams, trying to fight off the moving vegetation.

Willow and Amity laughed but it got cut short from the sound of hollering above them. They look up and scream upon seeing Gus falling towards them. Willow stops channeling her magic as Gus lands on her and tries to push her off. Amity wobbles back and forth now trying to support two people before looking back at Luz still holding onto Gus now resuming their charge after the vines stopped.

“Willow! It’s an illusion!” Amity shouted.

Willow grabs onto the illusion’s arm and cocks back a fist before saying, “This feels wrong, I’m sorry.”

The Gus Clone shrugs, “Hey it’s cool, I under-” Willow knocks him across the face causing the illusion to fall back before exploding into magic dust.

“Vengeance!” shouted the real Gus as they finally collided with him and Willow competing to push each other off then proceed to flail their hands not wanting to risk hurting each other. Amity and Luz stare at them from below seeing no sign of the struggle breaking.

“Well this is anticlimactic,” Luz noted.

“Yeah…” Amity shifted her gaze to the waters seeing how close their faces are. Since the two are busy doing… Whatever that is, Amity figures now might be a good time. “Hey, so… uh… what type of cutiepie do you like!?”

“What?”

She said it wrong. Of course, she said it wrong. Amity slams her face into the water resulting in a splash that caught Willow’s eyes. Gus takes the opportunity to shove her back causing them both to fall over.

“We won!” Gus shouts in triumph before a ball hits him right in the face, knocking him off of Luz’s shoulders. “Gus!?” Luz cries out before turning to where she can hear familiar laughing at the shore. 

Three kids stand by the shoreline with a certain three-eyed girl moving forward to pick up the ball that came floating back to her. “Sorry about that,” she shouts in a snide tone, “That was meant to hit both of you!”

“Boscha!?” Luz growls as she helps Gus up to his feet, “Seriously, do you have a hobby of picking on people?”

“I consider it more like a job. It’s rough, but somebody’s gotta do it.” The girl turns her head over to see Amity helping Willow up on her feet and feigns a gasp, “Amity! I didn’t see you there! Guess you really do blend in with the losers.”

“Boscha,” Amity calmly wipes the soaked sand clinging on her arms, “I see your vocabulary hasn’t expanded since we last spoke. How many times has it been now that I’m not around to keep count, Skara?”

“Fifty-eight!” chimed the young girl next to Boscha.

“Don’t answer her, you doofus! And how long has this been going on for?” she scolds Skara who merely shrugs with a weak grin. Boscha snaps her head hearing Willow letting out a chuckle and growls. “Hey! Don’t think I forgot about that wager your los- _dumb_ friend made on your behalf. And luck for you, I feel like honing my aim some more.”

Amity and Luz both rush over to stand in front of her. “If you want to mess with my friends, Borscha, then I’ll happily play with you,” Amity warns.

Boscha grins, “Friends, huh? Guess that means the wager also extends to you then.” She holds up her ball ready to cast another throw at them until a piercing whistle interrupts her. Everyone turns to the lifeguard who points at the sign again showing the crossed out symbol of ‘No petty teenage drama allowed.’

“Ughh! Can’t do anything in this stupid place…” Boscha tucks the ball under her arm and walks away with the rest of the kids with Skara lingering behind to wave at Amity, “It’s good to see you, Amity!”

Amity hesitantly waves but lets her hand fall back to her side. Luz took notice of the gesture and scratched her chin, “Could it be…?”

“Could it be… what?” Amity repeated back to Luz who forgot she was standing right next to her.

The human jumps and fakes a sigh of relief, “Nothing! I just thought we were going to have another competitive ball game session. Thank goodness…”

Willow walks up to Amity and places her hand on her shoulder, “Friends, huh?”

“Oh,” Amity felt a cold touch on her heart, knowing she doesn’t have the right to call her that after what she had done to her. “I’m sorry, you know what I mean, I just wanted her to back off. It was a spur of the moment.”

“No, you were right,” Willow reassures her, “We are friends, aren’t we?”

“That’s why we’re all here, aren’t we?” Gus walks over and gives her playful punch in the arm, “A bunch of friends enjoying the beach together.”

“Ha…” Amity sniffs, “Yeah, thanks Willow. And you too, Jus.”

“Jus?”

Amity frowns, “Jus, as in short for Justin? Your name?”

“How the heck did you get that!?”

Willow could barely hold it in watching Gus ream Amity over his name before feeling a tap on her shoulder from Luz. The girl leans in and whispers, “Hey, I got a sneaking itch that needs scratching.”

“Uh… gross?”

"No! _Figuratively_ , I have a sneaking suspicion it might be Skara."

Willow frowns, "Skara?"

"Amity said someone really nice. She might be friends with Boscha but she doesn't seem to share her nasty habits."

"That's not enough info to go with, Luz!"

"Then she might know something that'll help," Luz suggested, "I'll be back real quick. Just tell them I gotta go use the bathroom or something." She runs off leaving Willow behind shouting her name.

Amity looks over to see Luz running off and catches up with Willow, "Hey, where she's off to?" Willow nervously chuckles then takes Amity by the arm, "Oh who knows, but hey! Remember that fort we made when we were kids? Why don't we go and establish a new base of operations together?"

The fort. That was a memory that haunted her for years. A chance to literally rebuild what was lost between them gave her thought some reconsideration. Amity can still try to confess to Luz later She grins, “I’d love to, but what about Luz?”

“She said something came up but will join us later,” Willow takes her by the hand and leads her away. She looks over to where Gus is ready to call him before suddenly shouting, “Gus! Put that seaweed away, we’re not eating those!”

Luz follows far behind Boscha’s group hoping to not get spotted. A few of the others broke off and went in different directions but it still leaves just Skara and Borcha sitting on the public table with their stuff.

“Is Janice still dating that werewolf guy?” Boscha asks, scrolling through her Penstagram while sitting outwards with her back resting against the edge.

Skara sits across from her doing the same and shrugs, “Dunno, he seemed really mad when she faked that stick throw.”

“I told her she needs to stop playing him like that,” Boscha lets out a groan and kicks her volleyball forward. “Ugh, seeing her with those idiots here really got me riled… where did we leave that cooler again? I need a drink.”

“Ben and Casa took it with them for fishing down at the docks.”

“What!? With our drinks inside!?” Boscha shot up to her feet and glared down at Skara for not trying to stop them. “If I take one sip and taste fish, it’s on. _Sight._ ” Boscha picks back up her ball like she’s ready to load a cannon and marches off to where the said friends are. Luz ducks her head back into the sandcastle with a couple of kids standing outside whistling.

After the coast is clear, one of the kids taps against the sand wall letting her know. “Thanks! And great castle, guys!” Luz carefully hops out and approaches over to Skara with her eyes still glued to her scrollphone.

“Hey there! Skara, right?” greeted Luz. The girl’s eyes perked at her name and looked up at her then frowned, “Oh… it’s you.” She goes back to her scroll and says nothing more. Luz shifts her eyes around feeling the awkward tension coming.

“Yeah… me… so uh, whatcha doing-”

“Is there something you want? If not, then you better skedaddle before Boscha shows up.” Her reply was quick and though her tone was soft, it sounded more suppressed like a cashier dealing with a rude customer.

“I-I was just want to talk with you,” Luz stutters, “You know since you’re Amity’s friend and-”

“Was,” the reply came out much harsher with her eyes glaring up accusingly at Luz.

Luz sucks in her lips from making the mistake. She didn’t seem to be like this back at the Grudgby game. “I didn’t want to say that, I mean surely Amity doesn’t think like that-”

“I wouldn’t know,” Skara shot up from her seat and crossed her arms. Luz takes a small step back feeling the words stuck in her throat. “Boscha and Amity want nothing to do with each other. They don’t usually see eye-to-eye on things, but we stick together. At least I thought…”

“But Boscha is mean! You saw the way she treats Willow and everyone else!”

“She is _my_ friend!” Skara snaps, “You don’t know what she’s going through. She might have overdone it at times especially to Willow, but you have no right to call her out after what you done.”

“Me?” Luz stares incredulously back at the girl’s accusation.

“You’re nothing but trouble to Amity. You got her sent to the Principal’s when you broke into school by pretending to be that Abomination.”

“I-I didn’t mean it to get that far!”

“You _embarrassed_ her in front of all those people and the Emperor’s Coven at that Convention.”

“That wasn’t my fault-!”

“And yet somehow, she prefers being friends with you! And those are just the things she told us about.”

At least she didn’t know about the library incident. Or the time when she almost got her siblings devoured by a mountain creature. Or how just last night she fought against three intruders and fell off a roof of her own home while her parents think she’s sleeping over at someone else’s place...

“Honestly, I don’t know what she sees in you. I can see her wanting to be friends with Willow, she’s actually pretty cool and sweet. And that Gus fella is cute. But you? Maybe it’s not clear to her, but you’re obviously the type that attracts trouble for everyone. So yeah, Boscha might be mean. But she never puts us in danger. Things aren’t the same anymore because of you. You _ruined_ our friendship.”

Luz instinctively reaches for her cat hoodie but grasps onto nothing feeling her eyes welling up. She tries everything in her power to suppress it in front of the girl. “I… I never meant to… I’m sorry for bothering you...” she chokes.

Skara exhales and looks around, still not seeing Boscha anyway in sight. She softly mutters, “You better get going before she comes back,” then sat back down onto the table and checked her scroll without another word.

Luz slowly wanders away replaying the conversation in her head. A danger to her friends? She could hardly find anything to refute it. She could hardly blame Skara for feeling that way against her. She knows how much it hurts her friends getting hurt.

And what was she doing? Trying to pry information from Amity’s friends about who she likes? Why does she care so much of all sudden? Amity deserves to be with someone who makes her happy. Not Luz.

Not… Luz?

She stops in her tracks feeling the weight on her chest. Not her? Why did she think that? A stray thought perhaps, people tend to think of things randomly. Right? Her reason for wanting to know Amity’s crush got nothing to do with that. She is a pretty great person. Smart, dedicated, and pretty.

 _Pretty_? Why did she just think that too? There’s nothing wrong with admitting that, she always knew she was pretty. Especially when she smiles and how she has a sharp look when she’s mad or serious and how it goes soft when she’s-

 _Stop! Stop it!_ Luz slaps her cheeks and pulls on them. Where is this coming from? She and Amity are just friends. And friends like to know about each other and curious about their crushes too? So why does she… feel disappointed to know she likes someone else?

“This is awesome!” Luz snaps her head up to the sound of Amity’s voice. She sees her sliding off a large vine from a tree shaped like a small cabin and jumps off into the ocean water. The lifeguard turns to notice the tree and blows his whistle and points at the sign, but takes another check to see nothing in the rules prohibiting growing magical treehouses on the beach. He shrugs and gives them the ok sign.

Luz watches Amity emerge out of the water then braces herself from Gus cannon-balling next to her. She squeals and laughs as Gus pops his head up with more seaweed covering his head. That smile and laugh of hers. Do friends also have a funny feeling in their chest when they see them like that?

Do friends also just realize how wonderful that person truly is?

_“I don’t know what she sees in you.”_

_“You’re nothing but trouble to Amity.”_

Amity glances over and sees Luz standing idly by. She calls out her name and rushes over to meet her. “Luz! Hey, you have got to try out this slide Willow made. It’s amazing!” As she gets closer, she could see the saddened expression on her face. Her heart drops, “Luz? Are you okay?” She reaches out to her but Luz jolts from her touch.

“I’m fine! I just… needed some time to think about things... “ Luz bit her tongue trying to stop herself from confessing anything. She forces out a meek laugh, “Nothing serious, of course…”

Amity doesn’t buy it and reaches out again, “Do you… want to talk about it?”

“Oh, don’t let me bore you with the details! We came here to have fun!” Luz stiffles another yawn and felt her head going light for a moment. She speeds off towards the tree with Amity staying behind.

“Oh… okay then.”

~/~

“And a one! And a TWO!” Tibs exhales as he and his brother push in the new couch to its desired spot before collapsing onto the ground from all the physical labor. Eda looks up from her book and takes in the scenery from the said couch she’s laying on and smiles, “Not bad, it’ll take some time to get our butts to break in the cushions, but it feels just like the old one.”

“Hehe,” Ribs elbows his brother, “You hear that? Just like the old one.”

“... what does that have to do with anything, man? That’s not even a compliment.” Tibs pushes his brother over as support to stand up and stretches his tired limbs. “Wish there was more we could do for you, Ms. Owl Lady. But me and my bro got to skip town now before they find us. We caused enough trouble for you and the kids.”

Ribs sniffs and pulls out the entire box of tissues, “I hate to go but he’s right. It was so great to meet you, Ms. Owl Lady. I hope you enjoy the gumbo, remember to let it cool first before you put it in the fridge. You can even eat it cold, but nothing beats a hot gumbo.”

Eda jumps off the couch and takes each of the boys by the shoulder leading them out of the house. “Well, you boys may have made terrible choices, but you own up to them. I would have just bailed at just the idea of chores…” she admitted.

Hooty opens the door for them as Eda guides them out and pat them on the backs. “But you own up to them, and I’m pretty sure that’s a good trait. Not for hardcore criminals though, so I better not be catching you guys in any slammers, you hear?”

“Ha! They won’t be grabbing us that’s for sure,” Tibs laughs, “I have to say, robbing the place of your own hero definitely doesn’t seem so bad as it sounds. I’m glad that human girl was somehow able to resist that sleeping gas or it would’ve ended up ugly.”

“Yeah about that…” Eda crosses her arms now remembering the vial she found, “Would you boys happen to know what that alchemist used in that thing?”

Both Ribs and Tibs look at each for a moment then simultaneously scratch their heads and muttering “I don’t know… a root or something? It had a funny color…”

Ribs suddenly snaps her fingers, “Oh wait!” 

Eda and Tibs look at him waiting for an answer only to see him cough and say, “Uh… nevermind, thought I had it.”

“Dude, quit embarrassing me in front of the witch.”

Eda groans, “Wonderful, a mysterious sleeping agent that couldn’t affect humans leaked inside my home and I don’t know whether I should be concerned or not.”

“Humans? What about that little bone dude?” said Ribs.

“You mean King? Wasn’t he asleep when you nabbed him?”

“Nah girl, he was wandering the halls when I snuck in after the gas expired. I thought it didn’t affect him because he was so low to the ground, but I don’t know, I’m not a biologist.”

Tibs gasps, “You think that little guy is a human too!?”

Ribs gives him a shove, “Oh shut it, you thought that freakish looking newt was a human too when we tried to ambush that old frog and his grandkids.”

“That tadpole girl sure knows how to swing a flail,” Tibs mutters while rubbing the back of his head.

Eda could feel the migraine coming, threatening to burst her forehead open but now even more concerned with this new information. Even a demon like him wouldn’t be able to resist those potions. Like that time when he wouldn’t stop complaining about how bored he was that one monday afternoon.

The frog brothers both bid their farewells and left the Owl Lady to her own thoughts. _Besides being loveable dorks, they got nothing in common. So why only me then? And… wait, where is King?_

“Hooty! Wasn’t King supposed to wash you today?”

“Yup, he said he needed to grab a few things from the shed but hasn’t been back since he passed out inside.”

“Passed out?” Eda repeated, “You mean he’s taking a nap.”

“Hmm, if you call suddenly falling first into the ground a nap, then I guess so.”

“What!?” Eda goes full control mode and rushes out to where the shed is after shouting to Hooty, “Why didn’t you tell me!?”

Hooty scrunches his face and blushes, “I get shy, hehe.”

~/~

Amity checks through her scrollphone as everyone is packing up their belongings ready to head home. She sorts through the gallery of the photos she took of their time on the beach. Gus having a swimming race with his clones. Willow and Amity smiling at the camera in front of their new improved fort. Even ones of her and Luz eating together by the water.

“Got everything you need?” Amity hurriedly swipes back to the image of the fort as Willow comes over to check on her. She notices the image and smiles, “A big improvement from the old one, huh?”

“I didn’t think plant magic could make something so fun, you really came a long way.” Amity looks up at Willow but sees the image of the young Willow crying before her. She looks away in shame, “And all those years I made you feel like you were weak and amounted to nothing… just so it could be easier to push you away from me.”

“I… can’t lie how the things you said before never bothered me,” Willow tugs at her own skirt, feeling the words she had always wanted to say to Amity bubbling in her chest. It would be easy for her to make her understand how much she has hurt her after their friendship had ended. 

“But I can’t also deny the effort you’re making to fix that,” said Willow, “And the sacrifice you made for me. I believe things can get better between us. And to be honest with you, I miss this. Us hanging together again.”

“Me too,” Amity pops her scroll away as both Luz and Gus come over with their stuff ready to go. She notices Luz still forcing a smile as Gus asks if it was true humans in the summertime smash watermelons as a ritual to appease their deities. Ever since she came back from whatever she was doing, Luz tries to put up a friendly face but whenever she thought no one was looking, her smile would fall as if something sad came across her mind.

Luz suddenly was struck by a sharp pain in her head, causing her to fumble forward. The rest of the group pancis and rushes over to stop her from falling. “Whoa, Luz! You’re feeling alright?” asked Gus.

“Sorry!” Luz shakes her head and gently pry her arms back from their hold, “I’m fine. Guess that’ll show me for running on empty batteries.”

“Batteries?” Willow repeats the word as the three nonhumans look at each other at yet another unfamiliar human term.

Gus gasps, “Is that a siege weapon humans use to assault castles?”

“What? No, it’s-ugh, I’m sorry but I’m too beat to explain. Another time, okay?” Luz looks over to Amity and asks, “Ready to go?”

“Ready, are you sure you’ll be fine? Do you want me to carry-I mean have my Abomination carry you!?” Amity coughs.

“You guys worry too much,” Luz walks past them up to the pavement road that leads back to town. Amity caught the words she mutters under her breath as she passes by, “I don’t want to cause any more trouble anyway…”

The group follows after her making conversations with each other about various things before Willow and Gus split off to head home. Amity and Luz bid them farewell now leaving the two alone as they head back towards the Owl House. Neither of them said a word as Amity walked behind Luz and could barely see the down expression on her face.

Finally being alone with her after an entire day of hanging out with the others, and yet Amity couldn’t bring herself to try for a confession. Not when there’s something clearly wrong with her. But Luz wouldn’t respond to her concerns. It feels aggravating and all the more worrying to Amity.

She wouldn’t give up though. Luz cares greatly for her friends, it’s time someone does the same for her. “I was hoping to t-talk to you… earlier today, before you left to go somewhere,” she said.

Luz tilts her head up but doesn’t turn to face her, “Yeah… sorry, I thought I ran into someone I knew…”

“Did this someone… say something to you?”

“A lot of things…” Luz admitted but avoids going into the details. She finally turns back to give Amity a small smile but it fades before she speaks again. “Amity… do you like staying over with me?”

“What?” Amity stops in her tracks at the question, “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“You wanted to get away from your family so you can relax, and I pretty much hounded you to come over. It was just the second night, and you had to fight against burglars and almost injured yourself!”

“I told you I was fine, and none of that was your fault. You wouldn’t have known-”

“Shouldn’t I!?” Luz exclaims, “Come on, you said it yourself before. Trouble has a way of finding me, and I end up dragging my friends into them. I even got you to lie to your parents because I was too excited to pass up a chance to have my first slumber party!”

Amity gives Luz a worried look, “I didn’t know that was bothering you… Luz, it’s okay. You never meant to place anyone in harm’s way. You didn’t ‘hound’ me to come over, I would argue my twins did, but it was still my choice to be here.

“And yeah, you attract trouble. And at first, it was terrifying for me. But you always manage to stop them before it gets too far. The only time you ever ran away was when I had you fight my battles. And even then you were still there to help others. One bad night is not enough to ruin things. We had a great time before and today, didn’t we?”

Luz said nothing but felt her spirits rising. She wipes her nose on the sleeve of her shirt, “It’s embarrassing to admit but… I never had sleepovers. Back at home, I was the weirdo who couldn’t fit in. I never got invited because I didn’t have any friends… I feel like I have to try to be the best kind of friend I am to keep you guys close to me. And I guess I let that go to my head a lot lately. I’m sorry about that.”

“You shouldn’t be. I’m telling you, wanting to be a good friend is a wonderful trait,” Amity swears, “If you ask me, I think those other humans are the real weirdos. I can’t imagine there being anyone more spectacular than you.”

Spectacular. That word felt different coming from her. A sense of feeling causing butterflies to roam free in her stomach. Amity walks by, giving a rush of anxiety to Luz’s gut as she briefly gets closer before passing by her. “Come on, let’s go before Eda starts looking for us. I’m eager to see what tomorrow brings us,” Amity flashes her that smile that sends a warm feeling over Luz’s chest before continuing on.

 _Ha… haha… oh no_ Luz clutches at her chest feeling the quickening race of her heart. The image of Amity’s smile still lingering in her head. _I’m sorry, Amity… but I think I’m… really falling for-_

Luz felt another pain shooting through her head. She stumbles back hearing the ringing in her eardrums slowly drowning out the surrounding sounds. Her vision of Amity slowly blurs until she becomes a single misshapen color. She tries to take a step forward but she could barely notice the sensation of her legs now.

What was happening to her, she wonders. She tries to reach out and call for Amity but somehow… her name escapes her. Tired. So tired. It’s becoming a struggle to keep her eyes open now. She just wants sleep. Find somewhere comfortable so she can take a little nap.

Or maybe the ground. The ground looks comfortable.

Amity stops walking when she notices Luz wasn’t following her. “Luz?” she turns back to the girl and widens her eyes in shock to see Luz clutching at her head, wobbling back and forth.

“Am… Ami…” Luz grumbles before finally losing the struggle to stay awake.

“Luz!” Amity ran over to catch her from collapsing onto the pavement. She gently shakes her and calls her name again but to no response. Fearing the worst, Amity checks her vitals and presses her ear against her chest. All heartbeats and pulses are accounted for, but she still wouldn’t respond.

Amity felt tears coming as her mind frantically tried to grasp what could have made her pass out. Could she have a concussion from yesterday? It was a while ago, but she hadn’t slept and forced herself to go to the beach with her. Could she have been ignoring a head injury for her sake?

It was the only thing Amity could think of being a possibility, but one thing’s for sure, she needs to get to Eda asap. She carefully scoops her up and continues down the path to their house while making sure Luz’s head doesn’t.

The journey felt like forever with her checking Luz nearly every step of the way, hoping she would open her eyes. When the Owl House finally comes into view, Hooty extends his neck from the door and notices Luz in her arms. “Luz!? What happened? Is she okay?” he cried.

“Hooty! Open the door! And get Eda for me!” Amity pleads before the door opens on its own and Eda steps out from the commotion. She looks down and silently gasps at the sight of Luz.

“Eda!” Amity’s tears began flowing, “S-she passed out! I think Luz must have had a concussion!”

Eda quickly conjures a spell to levitate Luz off of her hands and carefully inside, she casts Amity a grim look and sighs, “If only, no kiddo, I’m afraid we’re dealing with something worse.” She gestures to the inside where Amity gasps upon seeing King lying on blankets and pillows in a similar state to Luz.

Amity slowly walks inside as Luz is gently placed onto the sheets along with King. Eda closes the door behind and places her hand onto her shoulder to comfort her. “What is this…? What happened to them?” asks Amity, looking up to Eda.

“Apparently Luz wasn’t the only one having trouble sleeping. When you all were sleeping in her room, did she and King slept on the floor?”

Amity nods, “Y-yes, she insisted I take her bed…”

Eda growls, not pleased with the theory she has in mind. “And your house… what was it that you said it was infested with?”

“It was…” Amity’s eyes widened. Without a word she takes off upstairs to their room. Hoping and praying it’s not what her and Eda are thinking. She slams the door open and looks around the room. The papers they both drew scatter from the doorway as Amity scans around for anything until she spots where the rest of her belongings are.

Her eyes stopped when she saw a glint of light reflecting from the slightly opened schoolbag she hadn’t touched since she and her family were forced to pack up and evacuate their house. She drags her feet towards the bag and picks it up to inspect it closer. Long strands of webs flow in the air from the small opening of the zipper. Easily enough for a spider to crawl out of.

Eda stands at the doorway with her arms crossed, seeing everything she needed to confirm her suspicions, “The symptoms matchup. Their restlessness were caused by the spiders crawling into their heads trying to enter their dreams, capable of preventing even the strongest anesthetic. Now that they got inside, eating their dreams and creating night terrors.

“Looks like the Skull Screamers hitched a ride and got them. And you were the lucky one.”

“No…” Amity drops the bag to her feet. Her stomach churns and her legs tremble. The spiders from her home. She brought them here. She caused Luz and King to collapse. All this time she was suffering but she kept ignoring it so she could spend the day with her.

And she did this to her.

Amity feels someone else’s hands grabbing her by the shoulder and gives her a shake. “Hey, stay with me here!” Eda exclaims.

“I-I did this to them! She passed out in front of me and I…”

“Yes and it’s all your fault, I know. But now’s not the time for that. We have two loveable dorks downstairs that need our help and I can’t do this alone. So are you going to sit here and feel sorry or are you going to make it up by helping me save them?”

Her words were harsh, but it was the shove Amity needed to get back to her senses. She swallows then nods, “I’ll do what I can, anything.”

“Atta girl,” Eda ruffles her head, “Come on then, we’ll need to find the book that’ll help shed some more light on these creatures. Then, we’re gonna go on a little deep-dream adventure.”


	6. Third Day, Part 2

“Let’s see here… Skin Screamers, Feet Screamers, Screamer Screamers-ahah! Skull Screamers! Yup, says here once the sleep fatigue sets in, we have less than ten hours to exterminate the creature before it lays its eggs. In which will take less than an hour for the eggs to hatch… causing probable death of the host as the babies eats them from the inside-oh, I probably shouldn’t read this out loud.”

Amity glares at Eda then resumes in taking care of the area around King and Luz. She gently props the pillow beneath their heads trying her best to make them as comfortable as they can. She then takes Luz’s hand into her own and gave it squeeze, hoping by some chance they would open their eyes.

“You’re saying we need to get into their dreams?” Amity asks, “Just like how you sent us both into Willow’s mind to save her memories?”

“Not exactly,” Eda places down the book then takes another spoonful of the frog’s gumbo, “Mm, physically entering a dream… can be dangerous, especially when it gets corrupted and turn into a nightmare. Once a Skull Screamer enters your dream, it no longer exists in our physical plane of existence. So, we’ll need to approach it with a different method.”

“How so?”

Eda takes a moment to go for another bite and moans, “You know, this stew isn’t so bad. I was worried seeing all that garlic he threw in but it’s not overpowering-“

“Eda!”

“Oh, _excuse_ me for feeling hungry. I just spent hours clearing the house for any more of those critters you brought here while you kids were running around at the beach. Honestly, I let you sleep in my home, eat my food, and even gave you love advice, and you want me to clean up your mess on an empty stomach?”

Amity drags her hand across her face and groans, “ _Sorry_ , I’m just a little worried about their safety. Can you please continue?”

Eda places down the bowl and pulls out a different tome. She takes a moment to skim through the pages until she finds what she’s looking for, “Here we go! A spell that can connect people to the same dream. The best way to squash a spider inside the dream world is to either take the fight to them or force the host to wake up. However, the spider’s sleep venom cuts all their outside senses from disturbing the host. We could throw those two down a flight of stairs, but it will do nothing besides giving me a good laugh. But if we find their conscious in there, we can try to convince them to wake up.”

Amity looks back to Eda, “What will happen to the spiders?”

“The same way all dreams end, they cease to exist. You can imagine how problematic that would be for us if we did the same method.” Amity shivers at the thought of a dimensional collapse. Her stomach feels uneasy from the idea of invading Luz’s mind. Either seeing things she should not see or things she is afraid to see.

But she will not let that bother her again. She was afraid before with Willow, but it was because of Luz she was able to face her mistakes. She hesitated before but not this time. Amity gently lowers Luz’s hand to the sheets but does not let go.

“Would you quit holding her like a terminally ill patient, you’re making me depressed,” exclaimed Eda as she makes her way over to them. Amity shoots her a glare then stands up to face her.

“Who are we starting first?” she asks.

“Both,” answered Eda.

“Both!? You mean, you’re going to send me in alone?”

“Got no choice, time goes by quick in the dream world. We could end up losing one of them before we finished the other. And I know King better than anyone soooooooo-” Eda drags out the word as she also realizes what she just said.

Amity tenses at the idea but it did little to hurt her resolve. After all, as long as she can find Luz they’ll be able to stop it together like they always do.

It’s funny to think just how earlier she blames herself for putting them into trouble, but once again Amity has to go inside someone’s mind because of her own mistakes. A couple of troublemakers they are. Willing to make things right again.

_We can fix this together._

“… you’re smiling,” Eda noted, “You put a spider in my little girl’s head and you’re smiling.”

“Would you just put me in already!?”

Eda grins at the retort then goes to ready the spell. She holds out her hands and gathers a swirling dust-like energy between her palms. “Once, you’re in try to find Luz’s conscious and get her to wake up. There is a strong possibility that she will be too immersed in that reality and won’t recall a thing. So if convincing them won’t do the trick, then you might just have to play along with whatever is happening to draw out the spider. You’ll be conscious of your surroundings but don’t let your guard down. Dreams are tricky and will try to pull you in as well. Especially the nightmares. Just don’t forget the reason you’re there for.”

“I won’t,” Amity promised.

The spell brightens in Eda’s hand and she quickly balls it into her fist. She gazes back at Amity who hurriedly asks if the spell was finished. “Yup, all we need now is for you to chant the phrase,” Eda holds out magical sand still emanating light from her hands, “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Alright, repeat after me: _I am”_

“ _I am_ ”

” _abid_ ”

“ _abid_ ”

“ _dew phis”_

“Nice try,” Amity frowns. Eda lets out a laugh, “Hah, Luz always fall for that one.” Without warning, Eda blows the magic sand directly into Amity’s eyes. She yelps and furiously rubs at them.

“Seriously!? This better not… uh, be another…” She couldn’t finish her words as every energy from her body was sapped from her. She lets out a loud yawn as she struggles to stand up before ultimately succumbing to the spell. Eda catches her from falling and then gently lay her unto the sheets with Luz and King.

She brushes the strand of hair from her face then ruffles Luz’s hair, “I’m counting on you, kid. Bring our girl home.”

~/~

Amity had thought she would awake again in a different area, but instead finds herself in mid-stroll through a forest. Her mind reels back from the drastic change of time and scenery. Just a minute ago, or what felt like it, she was in front of Eda back at the Owl house. Now she’s surrounded by an unfamiliar densely wooded area.

“Is this… Luz’s dream? This place doesn’t look like anything in the Boiling Isles. This could be her home?” Amity shrugs at the thought. For some reason she imagines the place being filled with rainbow waterfalls, giant otters, or something from The Good Witch Azura like that valley of giant crystals she had to journey through in that part of Book 3.

Her thoughts didn’t linger on the subject for long when she notices her own attire. Instead of the outfit she was wearing before, Amity is adorned into hardened leather gear with a chainmail vest. A green scarf wraps around her neck and leaves a long part of it hanging past her back. Strapped to her waist is a decorated shortsword.

“Okay… pretty sure this unnecessarily long scarf is just an aesthetic choice,” Amity holds the long part of the scarf by the end for a moment to inspect. Though she can’t deny it being a cool choice and decides to let it back down, “I’ll just keep it.

“Alright, gotta find Luz. Dreams revolves around the person. So, if I’m here then she should be close by,” Amity takes another look around but couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Not even a path to help direct her to anywhere. “… or at least I think so,” she says, discouraged.

A rhythmic, heavyset of movement behind her drew Amity’s attention. The ground slightly shakes as what seems to be like footsteps comes closer and closer to her. She sticks her hand out to draw a summoning glyph for her Abomination but when she goes to trace the circle nothing came of it.

_No magic!? You couldn’t have mentioned that, Eda?_

Despite not knowing how to handle such a weapon, Amity fumbles her hand to the blade at her side and draws it for protection. A large figure, easily standing above ten feet crashes through the trees with no effort. Before her stands a human-like beast that resembles more of a bear holding a giant log as a club. The creature snarls and stares down at Amity with a vicious grin.

“Me thought something smelled,” it growls, “Amity Blightbane.”

“Excuse me?” she frowns, “I think you might be confusing me with someone else.”

The creature goes to what Amity thought to resting his hand against the tree before he grips it tightly, making loud cracking and snapping sounds, then pulls it out like a garden weed. Amity didn’t waste time to see where he was planning to chuck the tree as he goes to arch it back and books it as fast as she could.

The uprooted tree crashes a few meters from behind her, showering her a hail of dirt and splintered wood. She covers her face from the debris and continues running as the beast gives chase.

_What the heck!? Since when are dreams this realistically dangerous?_

She pops out of the dense foliage and stops before a small clearing leading up to a cliff. Amity could tell just from the horizon the distance from the edge to the ground is vast and fatal. She lets out an annoyed sigh, “Of course there would be a dangerous cliff…”

Amity spun around to the monster emerging from the path, barring any chance of her to escape now. She looks over the edge, thinking since this isn’t real the fall wouldn’t kill her. But what if there was an off chance that it kicks her out of the dream, and Eda would already be inside of King’s head making it impossible for her to return?

No, she can’t take that chance. Amity takes another stance with her weapon, this time more determined to face the monster. It looks over at the cliffside and laughs knowing her cornered situation. “Nowhere to run now, little girl! Now I’ll have my-huh?”

The creature had made one step forward but paused its approach to look down. He felt something sticking to him from underneath it and lifts his foot up to inspect. Amity gazes at the piece of paper slightly slipping off with one corner blocking some of the written design but manages to recognize it as a spell rune. The creature takes his finger to try to scratch off the paper, only to accidentally triggering the spell.

The paper detonates like a grenade, causing the beast to reel back and howl in pain. Amity takes the opportunity to run through while it was distracted. The creature however caught sight of her movement and goes to swing its tree-club at her before another piece of paper was thrown at his arm, freezing it and the tree together.

Amity spotted a figure jumping down from a tree and lands in between her and the monster. The cloaked person holds out a card in her hand before revealing it to be five of them, each with the same magic rune etched onto them. The monster glares at the new person and charges at them.

The figure taps the one of the cards to trigger the spell and throws it at the monster, detonating another fire blast into its chest. The creature falters back as the figure approaches it and continues their assault, throwing one card after another in a chain of fiery explosions.

The last hit knocks the monster back just before the cliffside. It warily looks down at the sheer drop below then braces itself for another blast. But nothing came and the creature looks back at the figure just gazing at them with their face hidden beneath the hood, revealing nothing left in their hands.

The creature howls in laughter, “Hahaha! No more puny spells left! Both of you, finished!” The monster throws its head back again to revel in its luck before a rock struck him between the eyes causing him to fall over the edge. Amity can hear the monster screaming all the way down from the edge until the inevitable crushing sound stopped it.

“Me okay-! Wait no, me feels internal bleeding. Nevermind!” shouted the monster from below. Not that she cared. Amity turns her head to the cloaked figure who has it back to her.

_Luz? Is that you?_

The figure chuckles dramatically, “Who is this mysterious and cool hero before you, you wonder?”

“… I wasn’t thinking that, I’m pretty it’s-“

“A stranger I might seem!” the figure interrupts her and points her arm out, “But I assure you, we have known each other. A while ago we fought against each other back at the academy, but we overcame our differences and allied together before going our separate ways. And now, after all these years, we have reunited once more against a common foe. It is I, your old friend-“

“Luz!” Amity shouts.

The figure throws back its hood revealing the same human dork she loves. Luz blushes in embarrassment and pouts, “Come on, Amity! I been waiting to do that for like ever!”

Amity rolls her eyes but couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. It didn’t take long at all to find her, the girl who was forced into a coma because of her, now stands before her acting like her usual self. Luz’s expression changes into concern when she noticed a tear coming from one of her eyes.

“Hey, are you okay? Did that creature hurt you?” she asks, stepping closer. Feeling overwhelmed, Amity pulls her in for a hug much to Luz’s surprise. The human tenses from the out-of-character move from Amity but returns the gesture anyway, “Aww, I miss you too.”

“Miss me?” Amity pulls herself away, “What are-nevermind, Luz do you know where you are?”

“Of course!” the girl smiles proudly, “We’re in the forest of the Howling Willows!”

Amity frowns at the name, “Howling willows?”

Right on cue, a chorus of horrific howling erupts all over the forces from the trees with apparent faces on them, including the uprooted one from earlier. The two girls cover their ears with Amity desperately trying to continue, “Luz, you have to wake up!”

“What!?” Luz shouted back.

“You have to-ugh! Can we go somewhere else!?”

“I can’t hear you! I think we should go somewhere else!”

~/~

“So…” Luz and Amity are walking down a dirt path far from the sounds of the screaming trees after Amity explains the situation that happened, “You’re saying that a spider crawled into my head while I was asleep, made me unable to sleep for a day, then forced me into sleep again so it can devour my dreams. And you were sent in here to wake me up?”

“Pretty much,” Amity nodded.

“Well… that’s disturbing,” Luz gazes off trying not to imagine having a creepy crawler rooting around in her brain, “I mean, I’m sure it’s a funny joke, maybe if you could work on the punchline or-“

“A _joke_?” Amity exclaims, “Luz, I’m not making this up. You’re trapped in a dream!”

Luz waves off her words, “Just because it feels like a dream, doesn’t mean it is.”

“It is! Because none of this is real! This outfit, this sword, and that cloak. It’s all a fabrication.”

“Okay, if this isn’t real then why do I recall us going to the academy together?” challenged Luz.

“Academy?”

“You know, Hexside Academy, a place where people go to practice spells and train to be a hero.”

Amity rattles Luz by her shoulders, “That’s because you’re mistaking it as our Hexside! We do go to school together, in the _real_ world!”

Luz gently frees herself and steps away to think. Amity felt hope that her words might be getting through to her until she started hearing Luz speaking out loud to herself.

“It seems our fateful reunion is not without peril, for my old ally and dear friend is convinced of these strange thoughts. I cannot in good conscious leave her to that false reality. Perhaps my master would know a treatment to whatever cursed her.”

“I can hear you! I’m not cursed!”

“As the world’s greatest wizard and this land’s chosen one, I will not allow her to fall to such a cruel fate!”

“You’re not a-ugh!” Amity slaps herself and drags her hand across her face. If Luz wasn’t so cute, Amity would’ve throttled her. Her words clearly seem to have no effect with how immersed she is. It seems part of her memories of the real world have been warped by the dreams. She wonders if the Skull Screamer is also responsible for it.

No matter, she remembers Eda saying that she would have to play along if her words are not getting through to her. Amity also recalls that if they can lure out the spider that is also somewhere in the dream, they can defeat it here and free Luz from its clutches.

Seeing no other way to go about it, Amity decides to roll with it. She lets out an exaggerated laugh to grab Luz’s attention, “Okay, you got me. I was testing to see if I could get you to believe me. Guess there’s no fooling you…”

Luz gives her a questioning look as Amity attempts her best grin to pull off the lie. For as long as she known Amity, she never recalls her creating such pranks on others. Though the absurd lie convinced Luz that the poor girl is just not that good at making funny jokes.

Being the supportive friend she is, Luz chuckles and slaps Amity on the shoulder, “Oh, man! You sure almost got me there!”

“Really?” Amity said in hopeful spirit.

“No, that was a lie.” Luz’s eyes light up when an idea came to her. She excitedly takes Amity’s hand and says, “But hey! Since you’re here, we should do a quest together! I always wanted to go on a daring adventure with a close friend by my side.”

A quest with her? A ridiculous idea only Luz would think of, yet Amity can’t deny in wanting to join her. The spider’s presence still concerns her, but maybe the dream will naturally lead them to the creature. Giant spiders are after all a typical fantasy monster to fight. It wouldn’t take much convincing for Luz to fight it.

A good thing too that Amity found a reason to agree, because she could hardly say no with Luz smiling at her and holding her hand like that. Amity shrugs, “Well, I suppose I could-“

“Great!” Luz grabs her hand, much to Amity’s delight and fear, and pulls her away into the forest from the path. “We’ll need to make a stop first at my home. My master should have a quest for us.”

“Home!?” Amity only sees trees ahead of them as Luz continues to pull her further in. How long would this journey take? “Wait, Luz! We can’t waste any time, we need to-“

Luz pulls her through a large bush before emerging out of the other side where a bright light flashes over Amity’s eyes. Once her vision had clear, she found herself suddenly standing at the entrance of a village. She turns around sees no sign of the forest that was behind them, only a long dirt road leading to the hills.

“And here we are,” Luz declares, triumphantly thrusting both her hands and Amity’s into the air.

“Huh… that’s convenient.” Despite it being a dream, Amity would’ve seen the village before Luz jumped out like that. Lucid dreaming is a method of actively controlling the events in the dream. Could Luz be doing it indirectly?

They both walked around the village with Luz guiding her. Amity spotted a few familiar faces like Eileen the one eye girl and Viney from school going about their own business along with other… humans? A few of them notice Amity’s stare and kindly waves to her.

Amity waves back before bumping into Luz who suddenly came to a stop. Luz apologizes then gestures to the building in front of them, “Welcome to my abode. My master lives with us and helping me hone my abilities. They both should be home by now.”

Luz excitedly knocks on the door speaking in another dialect, “Estoy en casa, mami!”

“Mami?” Amity recognizes the word. She gazes at the house hearing someone’s muffled call from inside followed by footsteps. The door opens revealing a familiar female human with similar features to Luz.

The woman adjusts her glasses and lets out a delighted gasp, “Luz! Oh, mi pequeño héroe!” She pulls her daughter in for a hug, “What brings you back so soon?”

“Something came up, this is my friend from school, Amity.” Luz gestures to her who nervously tenses at the attention. This was an unexpected event to happen. Even though she still knows it’s a dream, it feels terrifying to meet with the parent of the person she’s attracted to.

But it could also be good practice, if Luz’s memory of her mother is the same person. Feeling confidant on the idea, Amity straightens her hair and posture then holds out a hand, “A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Noceda.“

“Oh my stars above, just look at you!” Mrs. Noceda affectionately takes her by the cheeks and pulls on them, “I just love your hair, especially the roots. It reminds me of an avocado!” The poor girl blushes profusely at the comment and the physical gesture. Luz pulls her mother away and shouts, “Ma!”

“You said her name was Amity? The same Amity you told me about? I can see what you mean, she really is pretty-“

“AWESOME!” Luz pushes at her to cease anymore embarrassing comments, “Yup, she sure is! Why don’t we fast forward this meeting now? Is my master still home?”

Mrs. Noceda’s expression changes like she just tasted something sour. “Oh, you mean _el gorrón_?” she sighs and points inside the house, “She should still be in our studies.”

“Thank you, mami!” Luz kisses her on the cheek and gestures Amity to follow her. The Blight girl exchanges a timid smile to her and politely pardon herself for the intrusion. Both went upstairs to find her mentor in the mentioned room.

“Your mother is much nicer in person than I thought.”

“Oh? She is, but she can be really embarrassing at times. But that’s the same with everyone’s parents, right?” Luz said looking back at her.

“Not mine. Maintaining appearances is all they care about.”

Luz nervously coughs into her hand after realizing her mistake, “Oh… right, sorry about that.”

Amity gives her a reassured smile, but it did not last long once Luz goes back to looking for the study area. She places a hand on her cheeks still feeling the slight stinging sensation, but the pain didn’t bother her. It made her wonder when the last time her mother ever did any display of physical affection to her.

Amity plays with a strand of her green hair remembering the sweet comment Luz’s mother made. An avocado? Saying it in her head sounds like an insult, but it was the first time someone made her feel good about her hair in a while.

Luz finds the room they’re looking for and opens it up before them. The sound of snoring can be heard as they both enter and find Eda sitting on a rocking chair wearing a set of robes Amity thought to be usual wizard attire before noticing a pair of bunny slippers on her feet.

“Master Eda!” Luz shouts, snapping the dream version of the Owl Lady awake.

“Huh, what? Oh, it’s you.” Eda lets out a yawn and stretches out her arms, “Is dinner ready yet? I kept asking your mother but she something to me in an angry tone. Just because I don’t understand the language doesn’t mean I don’t know when I’m being insulted.” She rubs the sleep from her eyes and looks over at Amity, “Do I know you?”

“Master Eda, this is my friend Amity. Amity, this is Edalyn Clawthorne, one of the most powerful sorceresses this land has ever seen! She came to our home and told me that I was destined for greatness and might be what this world call, ‘The Chosen One!’”

“You still believe in that crud…?” Eda mutters under her breath, which was loud enough for Amity to pickup to cast a glare at her. She fakes a loud yawn and says, “Oh but of course, my star pupil! What can this humble and _fine_ sorceress can do for you?”

Luz respectfully bows before Dream Eda with Amity just standing idly by with no intention in joining, “I ask for you to bestow a quest to send us on a journey of adventure where we can experience hardships, friends, and even romance.” Amity blushes at that.

Eda scratches her back and frowns, “Uh… okay, give me a sec to think… yeah, I got one. There are some _vile_ and _disgusting_ plants that have taken root in your mother’s garden that she asked of me-I mean you, to take care of. You know where the gloves are. Hop to it.”

“Uh…” Luz stands up straight and taps both of her fingers together, “I was sort of thinking of maybe something a little more… involving?”

“Sorry kid, but this is an era of peace. All that ‘unspeakable evil’ released upon the world or tragically misunderstood villains running rampage nonsense you’re hoping for isn’t happening. Not every quest come with a sudden call from destiny.”

The house suddenly shakes causing both Amity and Luz to stumble back. A thunderous sound coming from outside drew everyone’s attention to the window where they have the perfect view of a large mountain in the distance. Black clouds with lightning appear above it as a murder of crows flew by with their hideous calling. The earthquakes intensify with every second before the mountain’s peak explodes out a geyser of lava, sending burning large rocks upon the surrounding woods that are luckily too far from their home.

Eda just looks at the scenery as the villagers run by the home screaming and crying. “Oh lord, looks like the end times are here again. Ugh, and just when I got comfortable too…” she looks back at petrified girls staring out the window and grins, “Well kiddo, today’s your lucky day! A new quest is up. Go pack your things and say a heartfelt goodbye to your mother. You got a world to save.”

Luz beams with excitement and grabs Eda in for a hug. “Yes! I won’t let you down master! Come on, Amity! There’s no time to lose now!” she said pulling onto her friend’s arm to follow.

Amity cries out as she gets pulled away, “Wait! What did you mean about the romance part? Luz!?”

“Don’t forget to tell your mother to stop putting beans in my rice!” Eda calls out to them. She lets out a sigh and sits back against her chair, “Ah, she’s not gonna tell her.”

Amity waits by the entrance after Luz talked to her mother about the supposed quest. With everything that happened, she felt glad to see Luz still acting like her usual self even in the dream. She wonders though if this was the right way to help. What if this takes too long and allow the Skull Screamer to control it?

No, she shakes her head away at the thoughts. If the nightmare comes, then they can both face it together. They already fought against their greatest fears on Grom night. This is no different from before. After all, it’s just like what Luz said to her before.

_We can fix it together._

“Are you alright, dear?” Mrs. Noceda approaches Amity who nearly jumps out of her skin. The mother softly laughs, “Oh sorry! You seem so lost in thought, I should have known better.”

“It’s fine, I’m just… worried,” admitted Amity, half-heartedly.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one.” She looks back upstairs where Luz had run back up to for her belongings than leans in closer to speak with Amity, “To be honest with you, I feel so conflicted with the idea of sending my Luz away to such dangerous places. Normally I wouldn’t approve of such things, but for some reason I can’t find myself to even disagree. Oh… maybe I just worry too much.”

Amity held her tongue knowing the conflicted feelings she’s experiencing is being influenced by both of Luz’s memories of her and her desire of her mother’s approval. Not to mention the guilt she’s feeling for being the cause of her daughter’s plight. Would the real Mrs. Noceda forgive Amity for the harm she placed her in?

A gentle hand cups her by the chin and lifts her head up to meet her eyes. “Disculpe, I didn’t mean to drop that on you. Who am I to stand in the way of a couple of heroes?” She withdrew her hand back to her hips and smiles, “After all, I get the sense you been keeping my Luz on a straight path. She must have been a handful.”

Amity smiles to that, “Actually, it’s Luz who helped me. I was lost and… she helped me find my way back. Even when I thought I was beyond reach. I was stubborn but,” she chuckles, “so was she. I never knew anyone who would go through such lengths just to be my friend. She’s strong. Stronger than anyone would’ve taken her credit for. But even so, I promise you that I won’t let anything come to harm her.”

“Oh!” Mrs. Noceda places a hand over her chest, “She really has found herself someone special. It’s no wonder how she takes such a liking to you. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so afraid, but can you blame a parent sending their child and their girlfriend away?”

“G-g-g-g-“ Amity felt the word caught in her throat and forces down with a swallow, “You have the wrong idea! We’re just friends!”

“Really? Oh, I’m so sorry! You seem to really care for her I thought there was something going on,” Luz’s mother chuckles, “I suppose I been watching too much of those drama series. What a shame too, you seem to be a great match for her.”

“No! I’m just… wait, you think so?”

The sound of hurried footsteps stomping down the stairs caught both their attention as Luz lands at the bottom striking a heroic pose. She pats the bag behind and says, “All packed and ready to go! Hey, what are you two been talking about?”

Mrs. Noceda rests her hand onto Amity’s shoulder and waves away at Luz saying, “Oh you know, politics.”

“Eugh,” Luz scrunches her face then turns to Amity, “I should’ve brought you with me to spare you of that. Sorry!”

“Oh, it’s fine.” Amity gulps still feeling the residual heat in her cheeks, “I’m just going to wait by the door now. Don’t mind me.”

Luz nods then approaches her mother to say, “Guess this is goodbye again! I’ll try to send messages home and let you know how I’m doing.”

Mrs. Noceda had a worried look to her face and was about to say something, but she lets out a sigh and smiles wearily at her excitable daughter. “If only I could convince her of what adventures you could have staying here with me,” she said, “But I know you would be happier with this type of life. Just be careful out there, you-hm?”

She reaches out her hand to catch the tear falling from Luz’s eye. Her daughter flinches back from the sudden touch before seeing the droplet in her hand. Luz rubs at her eye, doing little to prevent more from falling.

“What’s wrong, cariño?”

“I don’t…” Luz sniffs, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with her emotions, “I don’t know. It feels like… it’s like I already missed you. But you’re right here and I…” She couldn’t finish her words as the tears kept coming. Amity felt compelled to comfort her but Mrs. Noceda pulls her daughter in to embrace her. She smiles, feeling the warm spreading in her heart but within it a cold feeling as well. A feeling of… yearning?

Amity shakes away the thoughts and goes to step outside to let Luz have her moment. She held herself and stares off into the distance where the volcanic mountain looms overhead. The dark clouds above swirling around like a serpent trying to coil itself around the peak. For a moment, the clouds took on a shape of something large with long, pointy legs. But when Amity rubs her eyes to get a clearer look, the clouds already lost its form.

Her mind conjures the image of Luz and King laying unconscious in the real world. By now, however long it already has past, Amity hopes that Eda is doing the best she can to save King.

“Sorry about that.” Amity turns to see Luz closing the door behind her. The human girl obviously carrying more fears and worries than she’s letting on, gave Amity the smile she always gives back home. “You ready?” she asks.

Amity nods, “Of course.” Anything to protect that smile of hers.

~/~

Eda opens her eyes to the sound of faint music. She gazes around her surroundings to find herself sitting on the couch of her living room with nothing out of the ordinary. She notices the sound wasn’t coming from inside the house at all before turning to one of her windows with the curtains poorly shielding the array of colors flashing against it.

“Oh great,” Eda sighs, “Can’t even dodge the police in someone else’s dreams.” The Owl Lady carefully approaches the curtains and shifts it back a bit to look out.

Right in front of her home is a large fortress, looking eerily familiar to the Emperor’s castle, being the source of all the sounds and lights. Right above the castle’s roof are giant magical lights formed into letters spelling out:

**_Emperor King_ **

Eda snorts, “Ha! Even a title like that next to your name sounds stupid.”

She looks down at the large gateway leading into the castle where a huge line of people are standing. A fellow citizen walks by the window then stops when he heard Eda pounding her fist against the glass. “Hey buddy, what’s with the line?”

“You don’t know? Emperor King-“

Eda interrupts with another snort at the name, “Ha!” Receiving a strange look from the man before continuing with, “-okay, anyways he’s holding a huge celebration party for dethroning the tyrant late Emperor Belos.”

If there were any doubt this was a dream, then Eda must be denser than Luz is to Amity’s crush-anxiety attacks. It appears that the Skull Screamer in King’s head has yet to corrupt his dreams. Unless he has an irrational fear of parties, Eda better snip it at the stem before the nightmares come.

The partygoer coughs for her attention then points at her house, “By the way, you should park your home somewhere else. You’re being an inconvenience to the other guests.”

“I can park my dang house wherever I want to, thank you!” Eda snaps at the man walking away. She slams the curtains shut then storms outside. She takes a moment to notice the lack of Hooty at the entrance but shrugs it off as a blessing.

Instead of waiting in line like the rest of the suckers, Eda sneaks up carefully to get closer to the entrance to survey the place. Standing in front of the entrance is large, solid-built gargoyle holding the red rope to let the first set of guests in before putting it back to place.

“Next,” it growls.

Eda watches the familiar tiny girl with a head for its body and a large nose walking up to the monster. “Ooh! Ooh! Me! I’m next!” she says jumping up and down for the Gargoyle’s attention.

The large winged-creature leers at the being before putting on a pair of glasses and holds up a clipboard to inspect the list, “Name?”

“Tiny Nose!”

The Gargoyle mutters to itself as it skims through the list twice. “Not on the list,” he says before suddenly grabbing Tiny Nose in one hand and, with an enraged roar, throws her into the sky before following it up with firing two laser beams from his eyes. The tiny head creature explodes into a shower of brilliant lights like a firework where the guests below stares in awe then cheers

“Oof,” Eda watches the sparks die as the cheering fades, “Tough security. That little bone rascal wasn’t expecting me to dive into his dreams, so I can’t assume I’m on the list. Looks like I’m going in the same way I do at every party.”

She dives back into the bush as a couple of guests walk by her with one of them carrying a pair of sunglasses in the back of their pocket which she proceeds to swipe.

The Gargoyle scratches his leg then hears a whistle directed to him away from the line. He looks down at Edalyn walking up to him, “How you doing, handsome? You wouldn’t remember me because the other guy before you let me in earlier. I had to leave because I got a call from the hospital telling me my little sister swallowed paint. Siblings, am I right? But I was in such a rush to leave that I forgot my dang ol’purse. So, you mind letting me through for just a moment so I can get in and get out real quick?”

The monster exhales through his nostrils and squints at the Owl Lady with his reading glasses with the burnt-out lenses, “… are you Edalyn Clawthorne?”

“The one and only, baby,” Eda snaps her fingers at him before realizing she just blew her own cover, “Oh farts.”

“It’s fine, he said you would do this. You’re on the guest of honors list.”

“Wait, really?” Eda inquires then watches the Gargoyle lifts the red rope and gestures her inside. “Ha, that old softie! This is going to be a piece of cake.” Eda strolls into the place where the booming music and flashing lights are coming from as the creature places the rope back before calling out the next guest.

Tiny Nose walks up again with ash and smut but wearing a pair of sunglasses. The Gargoyle raises his fist causing the girl to drop the act immediately and backing away slowly.

Inside, Eda mingles her way through the loud visitors and even the partying guards who paid her no attention. She looks over to where the Emperor’s coven banners are currently being torn apart by the rowdy guests. In the center of the courtyard leading to the building lies the defaced statue of Belos, covered in mounds of toilet paper, confetti, and missing the head that is being used as a volleyball.

She feels tempted to join the fun, but she forces herself to remember the mission. “Can’t let myself get distracted. Need to find King and wake him up from this nightmare before the spider infects it. Just got to stay focus.”

And she did not. Eda immediately joins in the fun the moment she discovered the dance floor. A crowd forms around her watching and hollering her name as she busts out her moves. She detaches her head and rolls it from end of her arm to the other then tosses it to the crowd to surf through a sea of hands.

“Woo! I totally forgot what I came here for!” Eda smacks her dry lips and shouts to the people below, “Could you guys direct me over to the refreshments?” Through the exchange of hands from the adoring crowd, Eda’s head ends up getting tossed directly into the fruit punch bowl.

“I did not think this through,” said Eda, now needing to deal with her entire hair soaked in juice.

“Make way for the new Emperor!”

Eda turns her head over to the announcement from the guards as they file all the guests a direct path to her. A familiar little demon steps out adorned with a real crown, a scepter that’s too big for him, and a set of majestic robes that is definitely too big for him.

The King of Demons taps his scepter and silences the entire area. “My fellow citizens. As your ruler, Emperor King-“

“Ha!”

King opens one eye to glare at Eda for the interruption then regains his composure with a cough, “I come to you all with a new decree. Starting now, on this very night… we shall party like we never partied before!”

All the attendants let out a deafening cry of joy then resumes to their activities. “Andalsotaxeswillnowbetripledtocoverthecostsoftheparty,” King mutters under his breath before hiding it in a series of fake coughs. He heads over to Eda as her body comes back to retrieve her head from the punch bowl.

“Eda! Glad you could make it. Is Luz around?” he surveys the area for the mentioned human before turning back to her.

Eda slaps her head now remembering what she came here to do at the mention of her name, “Ah crud. King! It’s good to see you’re okay. Look I know it sounds crazy but I need you to listen-“

“I can see you’re already enjoying yourself,” King interrupted, “Did you try our fondue fountain? It’s been a real hassle getting these _animals_ to stop sticking their hands into it. It’s not an endless stream of cheese people, come on!”

Eda kneels down to him and puts one hand over his shoulder, “Yeah that’s great, but listen to me! There may or may not be a dream eating spider that crawled into your brain and forced you into an endless nightmare that I sent myself into to save you from. All of this, the stupid title, the awesome party, and the adoring respect of the masses? It’s not real, this is all a dream and you need to wake up before the Skull Screamer gets here.”

The demon looks back at her in a serious expression before blowing his tongue out. “Oh please,” King brushes her arm away to get a drink from the table, “You’re telling me that I, the King of Demons now turned Emperor King-“

“Ha!”

“Stop it!” he snaps, “… that I didn’t singlehandedly defeat the most powerful being in all of Boiling Isles?”

“Of course not,” Eda rolls her eyes, “First off, I’m still here. Second, you couldn’t even win a fight against a three year old in a playground.“

“I’ll have you know that Usurper is next on my list!”

“And _third_ , if you really did defeat the Emperor. Then tell me, O Great One, as to how you achieved such a feat.”

“Ha-ha!” King points his scepter right into her face, “Oh I’ll tell you of my epic! For you see, our battle was long fought and… and… uhhh.” Eda smirks at his struggle to remember how he got to this situation. Not even in his dreams could he imagine defeating the Emperor.

“Well?” she chides.

He lets out an irritated noise and points back at her, “I just… forgot! Yeah! Because it was so easy.”

“You just said it was long fought and ‘epic’” she said with air quotes.

“That too! What does it matter anyway, look around! The people here actually love me! And they’ll do anything I tell them to. Watch!” King points at one of the dancers and calls for his attention, “Hey, you! Drop and give me fifty!”

“Whatever you desire, milord!” The man nosedives onto the ground next to King, then pulls out his wallet and hands him fifty snails.

“You see? Not only that but I can get rid the annoying magic laws so you and Luz can freely practice magic! You guys wouldn’t have to live in fear of getting arrested for pursuing your dreams! Isn’t that great?” he takes another look around the place trying to find the said human, “Speaking of which, where is she? I want to show her the pool we put in the Emperor’s room that someone cannonballed into and broke through the floor. I’d stay out of the West Wing if I were you.”

“She’s not coming, because she’s in a sleep-induced coma! The same one that you’re in!” exclaimed Eda.

A guard steps into their conversation and holds out a scrollphone for King stating, “Message for you, milord.” King reads off the message revealing it to be from Gus saying that him and the others will be arriving soon.

“Ha! Then what do you call that?” Eda lets out an annoyed groan as King sends his guard away then offers another drink to her. “Come on, Eda! This party is for you and my friends. I can finally share the fruits of my labor with you all. Just relax and enjoy yourself. Find a guy and do that poor excuse of flirting or whatever gross thing you like to do.” King was about to trail off before Eda plants her foot onto his robes to pin him down.

“As much as I like to get down on the floor, and I really do, I can’t let you stay here and let your brain turn to spider food. What will it take for you to realize none of this is real?”

“What will take for _you_ to chill out!?” King struggles a bit to pull his robe out from under her heel before managing to free it, “I didn’t want to do this, but as your emperor I demand you to enjoy this party!”

Normally she would, but it’ll be too easy for her to get pulled into the clutches of the dream. If she can’t get him to realize this is a dream, then she’ll have to double down instead of going with the flow. She also hates being told what to do, but…

Eda shrugs, “Whatever you wish for, _my liege_. If it’s fun you want me to have, then don’t mind if I do.”

King proudly folds his arms as Eda walks away but the familiar tone of her voice reminded him the last time, she said such a thing. He quickly looks to where she wondered off before spotting her next to the fondue fountain. His eyes widened as she holds up her hand next to it.

“Hey-hey! Let’s not be rash here!”

Eda sticks out one finger.

“Don’t you dare! I am warning you, lady!”

Calling on his bluff, Eda dips her finger into the liquid cheese before quickly withdrawing it from the scolding hot temperature and places it in her mouth. “Mmm! That’s actually pretty good. What is it gouda?”

King flails his arms angrily and cries out, “GUARDS! Arrest this heathen!”

“Arrest me?” she chuckles, “What are you going to do? Put me in timeout with a paper cone hat on my head? Make me think about what I done?” She continues laughing before a giant cylindrical glass traps her at the spot. She looks up to see the giant hand belonging to the Gargoyle from outside.

“… huh, still dumb but admittedly humiliating. Alright, hard way it is then.” Eda prepares to conjure a spell, but King aims his gem-embedded scepter at her. The jewel flickers before emitting a bright flash, temporarily blinding the Owl Lady.

“Ow! Watch where you point that thing!” She continues to try to summon a glyph but the magical line she traced dissolves with bright sparks sputtering out of her finger like a damaged electronic. Eda stares at her hands in surprise and looks at King letting out an evil laugh.

“Wait,” he stops, “Why am I laughing like that? I’m the good guy here!”

Eda angrily bangs her fists against the glass, “What the heck did you do to me, you knock-off stuffed animal!?”

“I sapped away your magic! If you can’t learn to behave, then you’ll just have to watch everyone else enjoying the party! But I’ll let you out once Luz gets here, maybe she’ll talk some sense into you.”

“That Luz is not the real Luz! If that spider gets here-“

“Then I’ll crush it! I’m not afraid of some stupid insect-“

“Arachnid.”

King blinks, “What?”

“They’re not insects. They’re arachnids.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Insects have three body segments while arachnids only have two-“

“What was that?” King suddenly cups his ear to listen in on the loud music and partying guests, “Why that sounds like the sound of no one caring!”

“I care,” said the man still lying on the floor.

King snaps his fingers for the guards’ attention then points at the man, “Execute him.” The guards grab the guy by the feet and drags him away while he screams. “Now where was I…? Oh yeah, ridiculing!” Eda slams against the glass again causing the little guy to jump.

“Give me back my powers, King!”

King pretends to ponder for a moment then goes, “Nope, I don’t think I will. You can’t tell me what to do anymore, Eda! And you can stay in there all night, until you learn to respect my authority!”

“You couldn’t even spell the word, much less expect me to follow it.”

King stamps his feet in frustration before forcing himself to calm down, “Deep breaths, remember what your personal aide said, you may be a demon, but you are worth it.” He walks away from Edalyn and ignores her calling and pounding against the glass. As he disappears into the crowd, Eda gives up and slides her back against it.

“I should have started with Luz. Hope Amity can handle it on her own. If I don’t do something, both King and I will be trapped here forever. And the girls could be in danger too.” She looks back up at the Gargoyle still keeping her trapped in place, then to the dance floor, and then back to him. “So… got a name?”

He grunts, “Gary.”

“Tch, even the people’s names in his dreams is stupid…”


	7. Third Day, Part 3

“Help us! Goblins!” shouted the merchant atop of the carriage, holding onto his wife. Down below, a group of club-wielding creatures dancing around and rummaging through their crates.

His wife sobs into his arms, “I told you we shouldn’t be taking this path!”

“I make poor decisions! Why do you think we’re always on the road?” the husband admitted, “At least we won’t have to worry about paying off the massive debt that I placed under your father’s name.”

“You _what!?”_

“I said I bankrupt your dad. Didn’t you hear me?” The merchant suddenly turns his head to the direction of the rustling bushes. “Wait, I think someone’s coming!”

The goblins turn to where the man is facing and sees a human girl dramatically jumping out of the foliage and landing on one knee. She whips out a hand of cards over her mouth like a fan, “When darkness comes, a Luz will shine through the veil! Along with her trusted companion at her side!”

Luz gestures to the empty spot next to her and waits. Everyone just stares at her while one goblin scratched his back with a club. Luz glances over and narrows her mouth to a loud whisper, “Psst, Amity! That’s your cue!”

“Oh right, okay.” Amity steps out carefully with one foot after the other in a rather unspectacular entrance. She clears her throat, “Yes, companion! That is me, Amity Blight.”

“Your full name!”

“What? That is my full-oh… yeah…” Amity coughs into her hand and blushes with embarrassment, “Amity _Blightbane…_ ” Luz tosses a hand full of confetti and gestures to her again with shaking hands.

“We’re doomed,” said the wife.

“Have faith, citizen! We will save you from these vile creatures!” Luz whips out an ice rune and slaps it onto Amity’s sword. Her blade shines and emits a cold fog-like aura. Seeing the magical effect on the weapon, the goblins hurriedly charges at them.

Amity raises her blade and swings it down, sending a freezing wave right through the creatures, freezing most of them into giant ice statues. One goblin that was lucky enough to be behind one of his men stares at the girls, then at the frozen bodies, then back at the girls. He gently places his club onto the ground and holds up his hand while slowly backing away from the caravan.

Luz clicks her tongue and points at Amity, “Pretty _cool_ , right?”

“You’re such a dork,” Amity lightly elbows her. _And adorable._

“Thank you, heroes!” exclaimed the merchant from the roof, “You saved our lives!”

The wife scoffs as she slowly climbs down, “If only they’re capable of saving our marriage.”

“Oh…”

“You’re welcome!” Luz waves at the couple as her before noticing Amity already leaving towards their intended destination. “Hey, wait up!” she playfully skips around her as they continue down the path, “What’s the rush, my fellow ally?”

“ _Rush?_ ” Amity stops in her tracks, “Didn’t we just establish a literal end of the world situation back there?” Of course, she’s pretty sure it’s of no concern since this isn’t real but real enough to persuade Luz.

“Well… yeah, but those type of things usually take a while to happen. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying our time and saving those in need, right?”

Again, if this was real, it certainly would be.

“We need to stay on track,” Amity said crossing her arms, “We can go and have our misadventures _after_ we ‘save the world.’”

“Okay…” Luz sighs and looks off to the side. A small smile crept up on her face and she turns back to Amity, “Can we at least have _one_ tiny side adventure?”

Amity shot her a glare.

“Pwease?” begged Luz.

Amity’s face twitches at the pleading but held her ground. _Don’t cave in. You came here to save her. Do NOT give in._

Unfortunately for her, Luz tilts her head to her clasped hands and bats her eyes at her going for an innocent begging look, casting a spell stronger than anything Amity has ever faced before. Amity’s face goes beet red trying to hold in her breath before exploding out, “Fine! Just stop looking at me like that!”

“I don’t know what you mean by that but yay!”

“But just _one!_ ” Amity warns, “After that, it’s straight to the mountain. Got it?”

Luz excitedly nods her head, “Yes ma’am! Ooh! Why don’t we go and check out this vast and mysterious cave!” She points out to Amity’s side who frowns before turning her head to the huge cave entrance right next to her. She nearly jumps out of her skin knowing it was not there before.

“Ah! How are you doing that!?”

“I just use my eyes, see?” Luz pulls up her eyelids and squishes them, “Plip ploop.”

Amity incredulously stares at her without saying a word. Luz slowly realizes how gross the trick would seem to her before hearing a giggle coming from her. “What the heck is that? Do all humans do that?” Amity said between laughs.

Luz beams at her and proudly places her hands by her side, “Not just any human could do it. I’m what you call a ‘one of a kind.’”

“You sure are…” Amity comments. She takes another look at the new-spawned cave, barely making out the interior from the pitch darkness. A perfect place for nightmares to happen.

“I don’t know about this one though, maybe we should pass.”

“You said I get to have one! And caves are like the number one places to explore on a journey! Look it even has a mysterious old man offering us items!”

Amity looks back to the entrance where a cloaked and weathered man whose face is obscured by the dark cave and the hood slowly gestures them towards him with a gnarled, bony hand and holding a dark stained dagger in the other.

“… yeah, not happening.”

Luz looks over to a new direction and points, “Okay, then what about the abandoned manor up on the hill?” Amity follows her arm to the hill spot where a dark storm hovers over the said building with many twisted, dead trees eerily looking like screaming faces. The black iron gates to the place opens where either another or the same cloaked man stands gesturing to them again but holds a rusty sickle instead.

“Are we going to address the creepy man or-?”

“Eh nevermind, it probably has a lot of mold in it. What about that place?” Luz points over to the cemetery littered with many unmarked tombstones. Some of them containing holes with freshly dug dirt. Out of one of the holes rises what Amity is sure in being the same cloaked man this time biting onto a mouthguard and bangs two boxing gloves together.

“Are you doing this on purpose!?” snapped Amity as she pulls Luz away from the nightmarish areas. “Let’s just keep heading down the path before making any decisions.”

Luz lets out a disappointed sigh but nods, “You’re right. If we can only do one before getting to the mountain than it better be something fun and exciting and-ohmygoshisthatacornmaze!?” Amity tries to grab her human but Luz speeds off into the huge labyrinth that spawned before them. Her face tightens up and reddens in anger but is forced to expel as she started feeling light-headed.

“Hoo… so that can happen here too, huh?” Amity shakes her head and follows after her idiot, “Luz! Get back here!”

“Amity? Where’d you go?” She stops and looks around to wherever she heard Luz’s voice but found the path she had taken from the entrance to suddenly disappear. Amity frantically looks around as Luz continues to call for her name only seeing the other routes leading further into the maze.

_Could she be doing this? Or have the nightmares finally settled in?_

“Luz! Where are you!?”

“I’m over here!”

“That doesn’t give me anything to go on! Just stay where you are and keep shouting! I’ll come for you!”

“Wait, I think you’re close by! I’m coming!”

“No, Luz!” Amity waits to hear for her to call again but no response came back. Fearing the worse had happened, Amity pulls out her sword and hurries through the maze. “Luz! Luz, where are you? Luz!”

A strange sound emits out from one of the paths leading to the clearing Amity stumbles upon. A sound that is definitely not Luz’s voice or anyone’s. It grows loud enough for her to recognize it as a guitar and picked up the sound of someone’s footsteps.

“Luz?” Amity asks again before a young man emerge out from the path. He finishes his song with a gentle strum and flicks his long, dark hair revealing his handsome features and the scar over his right eye.

“Ah senorita, at last we meet,” he said as he goes for another strum.

Amity glances around at whoever could be this ‘senorita’ before concluding it’s her he’s referring to. “Do I… well, should I know you?” she asks.

“Of course! But I do not blame you, for very few would whisper my name out loud in fear I would be nearby. For that reason, you may call me Scar,” he dramatically pauses to let the name set in. As if that would do anything to Amity who merely just stares at the strange man.

He unsheathes a folded curved sword from his back and holds it up, “I am a dark hero who travels across the land dispensing justice to the wicked and offer aid to the weak. I come from a humble village, so humble in fact, that we do not have a name. Sadly, my humble nameless village was tragically destroyed by evil forces that I will not bother to describe. Both my parents died when I was of tender age, and so I scour the land honing my skills while searching for revenge. I spent years studying the blade that was granted to me from the most skilled swordsman in the world. I have fought and slain many creatures that poses a threat to the world. I went through many hardships that have locked my emotions into my heart. I was afraid I could not feel anything until I saw you two traveling down the road. Instead of approaching you two in a normal greeting, I secretly followed you both for miles waiting for either of you to split apart so that I can sneak up and properly greet myself so that I may join you two your quest.

“Also, I know how to play the guitar. If you haven’t noticed.”

Amity glances around again this time checking to see if this was an oddly planned ambush or a terrible prank. Assuming he was being serious, she asks, “How old are you?”

“I am fourteen,” he answers with another guitar strum.

“Right…” Amity sheathes her blade, “Thanks for the uh… backstory, ‘Scar,’ but I’m kind of in the middle of looking for my idiot.”

“Ah! You mean the hero Luz Noceda?” he exclaims, “Allow me to lend my aid to you then! For you see, this scar over my eye was given by a magical beast that has granted me sight beyond sight! It was a perilous battle, I wrote a song about it if you would like to-“

“Yeah, no thanks. If you want to stick around to help be my guest,” Amity turns back to picking either of the paths after shouting out for Luz’s name again.

Scar chuckles, “Very well! It would be an honor to work with you, miss. For I have long to meet the fair and beautiful Luz Noceda ever since I first laid my eyes upon her.”

Amity freezes at the spot and slowly cranes her head to him. “Excuse me?” she hissed.

“Ah, a slip of the tongue, but it is true. It seems my cold heart has begun beating once again when I saw her,” he confessed with his arms outstretched and his eyes closed like he is imagining Luz in front of him, “Perhaps it is the tender kindness in her heart that is strong enough to fight my demons-“

“OKAY!” Amity claps her hands for his attention while forcing a smile, “On second thought, I think we can manage on our own. Why don’t you head back out and leave this to me, alright?”

“B-but I can help!”

“Yes, and I hate to deny someone’s offer. But I _really_ hate talking to you. So why don’t you turn back and head out to whatever make-believe edgy adventure you have and to never talk to me or Luz again.”

Scar frowns at her and makes a clicking sound through his teeth for probably no other reason but to look cool doing it. A smile then crept onto his face, “Ah, I can see clearly now. You are a fellow rival for her heart, yes?”

Amity gives him an irritated stare but could do little to stop her face from getting red, “Maybe I am, what of it!?”

“No judgement here, senorita,” he throws his hands up defensively, “It is admirable to know someone else could appreciate her beauty. Although we share the same goal and conflict with one another, we should set aside our differences and work together on finding her. Then we can continue our dispute as we journey together and establish a love triangle dynamic in the group where our Luz will remain indecisive with who she would want to be with and drag it unnecessarily as long as it can go.”

“You’re not even real!” Amity snaps.

“Perhaps, but my love for her is.”

“Argh!” Amity lets out a scream while pulling at her own hair. Hearing this made-up guy speak is like listening to someone scrapping their nails on chalkboard. Going on and on about loving someone you haven’t even talked to? Just who does this guy think he is, showing up out of nowhere and declare how he’s going to take Luz from her?

She takes in a deep breath and gently turn to him, “How about this? If you don’t leave right now, people will end up calling you _Two-Scars_.”

“Oh ho! So you wish to settle this now? Very well! But first, allow me to play us off to set the mood. Maybe a somber tune to symbolize the tragedy of our inevitable struggle for the one we love.” Scar closes his eyes and tested a few notes before finding the right rhythm for the song he’s going for.

But before he could begin, he felt something striking at his guitar and hears the snapped wires and splintering wood. He stares down in shock at the sword protruding from his instrument and slowly looks up at Amity in post-throw pose.

“… my father died protecting this guitar.”

“Your father is an idiot,” she hissed, “Now get out of here before I turn you into a tragic backstory!”

“I fear nothing… but I still would like to see tomorrow. Best of luck to you!” He quickly departs with the guitar slapping up and down with her sword still stuck into it. Amity watches him disappear and lets out a groan, “Ugh! The nerve of that guy! ‘Ooh look at me, I’m handsome and edgy, and I have a complicated backstory!’ _My_ story is way more interesting than his! I trained all my life to become a knight to get away from my noble family! My character arc is compelling and way more relatable and-what the _heck_ am I talking about?”

Amity shakes her head from the false memories of the dream trying to work their way into her mind. She was fortunate to realize it sooner before losing herself into this world. At least that was over with. Now she has to find Luz in this accursed place before they-

“Did somebody say ‘backstories?’” chimed Luz who pops right next to Amity’s face who lets out a terrified yelp.

“Aah! Wha-Luz!?”

“That’s me! What were you-owowowowow!” Luz cries out in pain as Amity angrily pulls at her cheeks for a few seconds before she relents and turns her back to her with her arms crossed.

“You shouldn’t have run off like that! What if something happened to you?”

“Sowwy…” Luz whines rubbing her cheeks but feels more pain from making her worry. It didn’t take long for Amity to let it go now knowing that she’s okay. She glances back with a softer expression and says, “Just don’t leave me like that again, okay?”

Luz responds with a smile then looks down at her empty holster. “Hey, what happened to your sword?” she points out.

“I uh… I stumbled upon a creature and it ate it.”

“Oh no! Is it still around? We could still get it back if-“

“It’s dead.” She frowns in the direction where the guitar boy ran off to, “To me at least…”

“O~kay then. But you won’t be able to do much without a weapon… hold on!” Luz pulls out her satchel and digs into it. She pulls out a deck of cards each printed in various runes and hands it to her. “Here! All you have to do is tap on them and think of how you want to use them. It’s what I do.“

“You’re letting me use your spells?” Amity takes the deck and goes through each of the cards carefully not to trigger them by accident, “What about you?”

“Oh, those were just something I like to mess with. I won’t be needing them because I got this!” Luz pulls out a small wooden cylinder in her palm before closing her hand around it. A light shine between her fingers before two ends of a glowing rod springs out. The light bends the rod shaping it into a familiar staff of an owl at the top end like Eda’s except this one contains gold brim at the bottom and two rubies where the eyes of the owl should be.

Luz twirls the rod in her hand to show it off before accidentally fumbling it out of her hand for her to wildly flail her arms to catch it but fails to. She giggles nervously and snatches up the staff, “Master Eda said I’m one of the very few to be naturally born with magic. So I wouldn’t have to make use of runes to cast awesome spells.”

A few? Amity now understands why her magic wouldn’t work. In this dream, magic seems to be rare and only accessible to those born with it. And the runes she uses are the common use to access these abilities. She couldn’t help but find the reversed roles endearing.

Tucking the spells into her own belongings, she then crosses her arms at Luz and asks, “Got that out of your system? Because I’m counting this as your one side adventure.”

“What!? But this isn’t a sidequest at all! I didn’t even get to fight my own maze monster!”

“You should’ve thought about that before running blindly into danger,” Amity fishes out one of the spells in her hand that can control plantlife and plans to make a simple path out, “I’ll make us an exit.”

“What? But Amity-!”

“No buts, there’s nothing-stop giggling! There’s nothing exciting about getting lost in a crop field.”

“Amity, that spell-“

“I know how to use it,” Amity interrupts. “It’s not that different and I seen you do it plenty of times.” She places the rune down in front of the foliage and taps the symbol. The rune glows brightly before her as the paper shrivels into the ground. Feeling proud, Amity calls over to Luz who worryingly approaches her and exclaims, “See! Not so bad for a beginner, huh?”

“It’s great!” Luz admitted, “It’s just that uh…”

A small flame burst to life from the spot where the rune was.

“You… might’ve used the wrong spell.”

“Oh no,” Amity quickly stamps down on the floor with her, successfully extinguishing it beneath her feet. She lets out a sigh of relief and turns back to Luz, “See, not a problem. I meant to use the nature spell to clear the crops. So maybe it just didn’t work properly-“

The flames erupt behind Amity and immediately spreads wildly to all the surrounding crops. Amity sucks in her mouth as she can see the flames devouring everything in sight and cutting off all routes they had out of the clearing.

“Should it bother me that this is the _second_ time I caused a fire inside of someone’s head?” Amity muttered to herself. She pulls out the runes again trying to find and remember the right ones that could help them out of this mess, “Any chance you happened to have a rune that can create rain or shoot water?”

“No, I didn’t learn any of that yet! I…” Luz shuts her eyes feeling a lapse in her memory occurring. Briefly recalling memories of the life she had back in the Boiling Isles. But she couldn’t tell which is real from the conflicting images.

The crackling flames and growing heat made it hard for her to focus. If only she hadn’t run off and got Amity trapped in here with her.

“I… I don’t know what to do. Amity, I’m so sorry!”

Amity stares at her in disbelieve, “This isn’t your fault, it’s mine! I should be the one apologizing!”

“But it’s my fault you got in this mess!” a painful memory came back causing Luz to stumble in her steps, “She was right… all I do is cause trouble for everyone…”

“Luz!” Amity grabs her and pulls her away from the burning crops falling over. She takes her face by the cheeks with both hands and say, “You said you’re the chosen one who can use magic, right? Do something with that staff! Create a rainstorm or a gust of wind or something!”

“I… I don’t know,” Luz hesitates, “What if I can’t do it? What if I make it worse and-“

“Luz, listen to me! You’re way stronger than you know. You can do _anything.”_ Amity was speaking in a literal sense, but it does come across as the typical uplifting praise to Luz who takes it by heart.

“You… really think so?” Amity gives her a warm smile and nods, bestowing her confidence with renewed vigor. Luz pulls herself away and holds her staff forward at the raging inferno around them.

She closes her eyes to focus and draw out the magical energy inside her. Allowing it’s power to flow through her veins and surge at her beck and call. Luz opens her eyes now shining in bright orange hue as bolts of energy crackles around her. She slams the foot end of her staff to the ground and speaks, “Hearken to me, creature of the sky! For I call you in my time of need!”

A huge, dark mass soars over Amity’s head bringing in a large gust of wind. The winged creature cuts through the sky with incredible speed over the burning field before coming to a sudden halt over the two girls. Amity could barely make out its features except for the same glowing orange eyes looking down at them.

It slowly rears both its massive wings back then releases flaps them together sending out an incredible, unseen force of wind rippling through the girls. The flames could barely held still a second longer before getting utterly extinguished like a candle, leaving behind charred remains and bits of popcorn here and there.

The magic dissipates from Luz who looks up at the mess that was her hair all windswept away. She shakes her head to normalize it as Amity walks up, smoothing out her own hair.

“That was… incredible!” she exclaims.

“I know!” Luz squeals, “My eyes were like ‘bwaam!’ And this bird was like ‘kacaw!’ Oh, that was so cool!” Her excitement slows down enough for her to allow some air back into her lungs. Amity giggles at her act, bringing a warm feeling in her chest again.

“It really was, and brilliant too for summoning an avian creature that could take us all the way there.”

“What now?” Luz looks up at the giant bird then back at Amity before connecting the two dots together. “You really want us to skip the entire journey just like that? What about our adventure? Exploring new places! Making friends along the way!”

Amity’s patience began to wear thin. As much as she hates to chastise her, she can’t bear to waste any more precious time for the Skull Screamer to take over. “Why are you so fixated on this!” Amity snaps, “Shouldn’t a hero go out of their way to stop the great evil disaster or whatever that is?”

“I-I suppose but usually stuff like this takes time so-“

“So you prefer to stop and smell the flowers than to protect the one I love!”

“That _you_ love?”

“That’s what I said!” Amity squeaks, “the ones you love!”

“I…” Luz sadly looks to the ground feeling ashamed of not thinking clearly of her actions. Why is she so fixated on playing around? The idea of imminent danger should have gotten her determined to see it through.

But this is nothing new, is it? Once again causing trouble and dragging everyone around her into it. Even her own mother who would certainly be disappointed if she knew. “You’re right, I shouldn’t have gotten carried away. Maybe it’s because you and I get to hang out together on this journey that I… really want it to be memorable,” she explained.

Amity eases up hearing her reasoning. She doubts it was the main reason behind it as the dream or the spider could be the cause of her procrastination. But to her hear say that, even if it does seem pretty dumb in context, is genuinely sweet to hear.

“Tell you what,” Amity goes to take Luz’s hand but feigns a sudden itch the moment she looks back up, “uh, once we finish this quest. Then we’ll go on as many adventures you want together. I promise.”

“Really?” Luz asks, “You wouldn’t mind?”

“Wouldn’t mind? I would love to,” the L-word came out a little higher pitch than it should but Luz didn’t notice, “Whatever you want.”

“Even saving more people from monsters while wearing cute animal costumes?”

“I didn’t agree to that!”

“Too late! You said whatever I want,” Luz boops Amity on the noise who flinches in surprise by the gesture. She looks up at the flying creature she summoned still hovering above them and cups her hands over her mouth to shout, “Excuse me! Thanks for saving us by the way, but we could trouble you to give us a lift to that big, dangerous looking mountain?”

“Hoot hoot! I sure can!” Amity’s eyes widened in horror at the familiar voice answering them before diving down to personally greet them. Much to her displeasure, the giant bird landing before them is none other than Hooty in a body of an actual giant owl.

“Anyone need a _hand_?” He raises his claw while rapidly flashing his eyebrows up and down as if the context to the pun made sense.

No words could describe the disgust the girls are feeling right now. Despite Luz’s memory being twisted by the dream, even she knows that his face on that body is somehow… wrong. Just. Wrong.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” groaned Amity.

Luz nods in agreement then raises her staff again, “Yeah… let me see if I can just summon another bird.”

“Oh come on, guys!” exhaled Hooty, “I wanna go on a fun adventure too! You can’t just put me here as a joke like some sort of gag character! I have feelings too and-AAAHHHHH!” An even larger creature swoops down and snatches Hooty up with its beak and effortlessly gobbles him up.

The creature lands back down in front of them revealing itself as another owl but like the little palisman belonging to Eda’s staff. Owlbert lets out a cheerful sound and lowers its wing to them as a makeshift pathway to climb onto his back.

“Well, that was morbid,” Luz noted, “Oh but look how adorably big he is!”

“Onward and upward then,” Amity takes Luz’s hand for support as they both climbed onto the giant Owlbert waiting patiently for them to secure themselves onto his feathers. He flaps his wings and gently takes off into the sky, with enough force to still scare the lights out of them.

“This is awesome!” Luz cries out, suppressing the urge to raise both her hands in the air out of excitement. Amity laughs with her, still feeling concern of losing her grip and falling off until Owlbert adjusts his speed by letting out his wings to glide across. She lets out a sigh and sits back taking in the view of the land around them. Luz gazes around the area from above as well but her eyes stopped at a certain spot, “Hey, is someone down there?”

Amity looks over to where she is pointing and finds the still burning patch of the corn maze slowly eating away at the space where a familiar person can be seen standing waving his arms with a guitar in one of them. Despite her disdain to the person, Amity wouldn’t be so callous to let someone be horribly burnt alive over a crush.

But technically, he’s not a real person either and it’s only a dream so…

“I don’t see anything,” she said, “Must be a scarecrow.”

“Hmm… okay, if you say so.” She points straight ahead and shouts, “Full steam ahead! For the sake of our world and our future!”

Down below, Scar watches them continuing forward without any signs of coming to rescue him. He plays himself a somber melody as the flames slowly encroaches at him from all angles, “How fitting. I try to feed these flames of passion, but only to end up becoming its fuel instead. Perhaps now I may finally rest, to be at peace with my-ow!” He flinches from the flames licking at his feet and tries his best to make use of the small space he has to attempt waving them down again despite them now only being a dot in the distance.

“Nevermind! Perishing by fire is not peaceful at all! It’s actually very painful! Please, I’m begging you!”

~/~

“Looking good, Emperor!”

“Hey it’s King! Our ruler who is totally not adorable but terrifying and awesome! We love and fear you!”

King proudly strolls through his followers showering him in praises and admiration. “Thank you. Thank you,” he says, “You are all far too kind and far too affectionate.”

After making his rounds of checking with the guards and the guests, King returns to back to the dance floor where Eda was. He looks up with a bemused expression and snaps his fingers. A guard walks away then returns with a drink and hands it to him. King takes a sip then taps his scepter to send them away.

“Well, Eda. How’s the _weather_ up there?”

Eda grabs onto the bars of the cage she’s been transferred to that is currently hanging just below the giant disco ball by a chain. She lets out an irritated groan, “Ugh, the only thing more painful than this is your jokes.”

“Oh come on, don’t leave me _hang-_ ah!” King jumps back from Eda’s spit. He glares back at her as she laughs at his reaction. He angrily points up at her and screams, “That’s disgusting!”

“So is your ego! Now let down from here and give me back my magic, you butt.”

“You’re the butt!” King cracks, “What kind of friend would lie to them! Make them believe everything they done amounts to nothing! That I’m just some useless housepet!”

“The type of friend who’s not going to leave you to die!” Eda exclaims, “You’re a lot of things that I’m better off not saying, but you’re not useless nor a housepet to me.”

King looks to the ground and turns his back to her but doesn’t move. Eda lowers herself and speaks in a gentler tone, “King, it’s sweet of you for wanting this life for me and Luz, but it’s not real. You need to believe me. And make it quick, ten more spins of this and I’m about to find out if dream-puking is a thing.”

“I…” King clutches his arm holding the scepter. He stares at himself in the reflection of the crystal that took Eda’s power, feeling at odds with the memories created by the dream and the real ones from reality. He claims to have defeated the Emperor himself, but why can’t he remember? Such an obvious doubt should have been enough to break him out of the illusion.

But he cannot because he _did_ defeat Belos. He took his throne and title and now rules over the Boiling Isles. There is no illusion. Everything Eda says is a lie. He shouldn’t believe her. Don’t listen to her. Do not listen to her lies.

“Argh!” King slaps himself and clutches his aching head, “All these menacing-sounding thoughts is making my brain hurt! Is this what a midlife crisis feels like?”

“Trust me, it’s more painful than that. Now are you going to let me down or what?” Eda calls from her cage.

King barely had a time to respond before a guard rushes up to him and greets him with a salute, “Milord! The rest of the guests of honor have arrived.”

“Really!?” King excitedly tosses his half-empty cup to the ground and ignores Eda’s shouting, “Don’t just stand there then! Bring them in!”

The guard bows and heads off by his command. Eda tries again to call for his attention, but the tiny demon busied himself by throwing out more commands to both the guards and the partiers. The DJ turns up the music even louder, drowning her voice out by the heavy beats and the renewed vigor in the crowd.

It’s clear to her she won’t be able to get his attention now that the dream has pulled him back. But if there’s one thing Edalyn is best at parties besides breaking in and down, it’s how to crash them. She grabs onto the bars then throws her weight against it, causing the suspended cage to rock forward then back. The disco ball it’s attached to makes a metallic groaning sound from its own supporting chain only she can hear from the loud music.

The guard returns at the entrance to the floor and bows respectfully before the other announces, “And now, the guests of honor! Master Gus and Mistress Willow!” The two kids enter with Gus wearing a dandy purple suit and Willow just in her casual attire. King rushes up to meet them, “You guys! Glad you could make it! Looking sharp there, Gus!”

“Hey King!” Gus high fives the demon who had to jump for it then snaps his fingers at him, “Looking pretty snazzy yourself there, buddy. Ooh, is that a fondue fountain over there!”

Willow elbows him then respectfully bows before King, “Thank you for inviting us, Emperor King. Might I say how grateful we are for you to abolish the harsh magic laws to allow any witch to freely practice all forms of magic? Now that the system is a thing of the past, now everyone can freely choose their careers instead of competing for to join the Emperor’s coven.”

“But most importantly, thanks for getting me back in the human club along with my old president position,” Gus intervened, “Now I can continue my research about the entity from the human world known as ‘Santa Claws’ and how they let him get away with breaking and entering people’s homes.”

King proudly chuckles to himself, “Don’t stop mentioning it! And you guys can drop the title, we’re all friends after all.”

“Which one?” Gus asks.

“Wait, is King your real name?” chimed Willow.

“I thought it was Demons.”

“On second thought, let’s keep the formality. Anywho,” King looks behind them to see if someone else was going to join them, “So where’s Luz? Is she playing a round of kickball with Belos’ statue head?”

The two kids gave each other a look before Willow sheepishly turns her head away as Gus awkwardly coughs and says, “Uh… you didn’t know?”

“Know what?”

“She went home, dude.”

King raises an eyebrow at that then laughs, “Home? What did she forget something back at the Owl House? Is that Otter costume isn’t it? The girl sure knows how to party.”

“No,” replied Willow, “We meant she went to _her_ home. The human world. Didn’t she tell you?”

“Haha… ha, that’s… that’s not funny, guys.” King’s throat suddenly tightens as he feels a pit in his stomach, “Seriously, where is she?”

“We’re telling you the truth. She’s not coming back.”

“But…” King’s arms start shaking at the news, not wanting to believe what he heard. The crowd slowly forms around them ignoring the blaring music getting increasingly louder. He doesn’t take notice as he expectantly looks up waiting for either of them to say ‘gotcha!’

“But she… she wouldn’t just do that. Why would she want to leave?”

“Well I can’t blame her,” Willow interrupted, “This world is too scary for a human.”

“But we’re family!” he retorts, “We’re boo-boo buddies! She wouldn’t… she could’ve-“

“Told you?” finished Gus, “I thought it was strange, but thinking about it now… I can see why. I mean pets are fun to have but they’re not _technically_ family.”

“I am not a pet!” he cries, feeling hurt from the comments the two are making and the way they are looking down at him. “I am her friend! The King of Demons! Ruler of-“

The two kids and the crowd all began to laugh. He stops and looks at the people surrounding him while pointing their fingers. Eda has the cage rocking dangerously back and forth, successfully causing the stress to slowly wear down the hook from the ceiling before noticing the sudden laughter.

“The nightmare. King!” Eda cries out to him, but the combined increasing volume of music and laughter swallowed her voice. Irritably, she turns her head to the DJ playing with the soundboard. Something caught her eye making her squint for a better look, noticing the comically large hat obscuring its face underneath a layer of guardsman clothing. The hat tilts back from the constant head bobbing before a huge, hairy appendage pops out from the cape and adjusts it back into place.

Eda gasps, “So you’re the one behind those heavy beats!” The Owl Lady shifts her body over and continues rocking the cage but this time in a new direction.

Down below, the crowd continues their ridiculing of King as he desperately covers his ears. “Stop! Stop it! She wouldn’t! And I’m not a pet! I-I’m your Emperor!” he cries, “I demand you all to-“

“What?” shouted one of the voices, “Are you going to _demand_ us to like you? How sad is that!”

“Watch out! He’s going to arrest us so that we can’t leave him like his ‘friend!’ Hahahaha!”

King buries his head to the floor as the crowd closes in around him. Their faces stretch and twist together along with their bodies while they kept on laughing. Their forms no longer resembling structure and swirls around him like a blender of laughing faces. He struggles in vain to ignore their voices. Their harsh words. Their lies.

“Luz…?” She wouldn’t abandon him. She wouldn’t.

The Skull Screamer watches from the booth and takes in a deep inhale, “Mmm, such wonderful anguish. Marinate in it longer, little devil. A broken spirit makes it all the easier to terrify. Your fears will be a delicate feast for my children!”

“Better hope there’s plenty of iron in it!” Eda’s voice calls out to the Skull Screamer followed by the piercing sounds of metal bolts busting open. The nightmare spider fails to notice the incoming cage with a screaming witch inside followed by the giant disco ball trailing after it by a chain.

“What!? Oh, wait no, I get it. That’s pretty clever-OH MY GROM!”

King’s eyes shot open to the deafening crash over at the DJ booth. The blaring music cuts out only leaving the chorus of laughter from the crowds. “That familiar sound of property damage. Eda!?” King hops up to his feet and pushes his way through the distorted group with ease towards the destruction. The wall where the booth was placed near caved in from the impact burying both the spider and the Owl Lady in debris.

He takes off the royal clothing and tosses the scepter aside to desperately digs through the rubble for his friend. A familiar hand eventually breaks through for King to grab onto and help pull her out. Eda shakes off the mess from her hair and lets out a painful groan, “Oh man, I am so glad I won’t be feeling this tomorrow.”

“Eda!” King hops into her arms and the two warmly embraces each other, “I… I’m starting to remember now. Aww, you’re telling me I didn’t dunked on Belos in an awesome battle and usurped his throne?”

“Afraid not,” she says rubbing his head, “But hey, we can add it to the bucket list. Though we’ll probably end up kicking the bucket. Heh, wouldn’t that be one heck of a way of going out?”

“So Luz really didn’t leave us?”

Eda notice the crack in his voice and the misty eyes of his. She cracks a grin and jokes, “Aw, what ever happened to that ‘demons not needing friends’ bologna?”

She expected a high-pitched retort or hopefully a teapot sounding screech out of him, but her humor went away when King sorrowfully dipped his head. “But she will, won’t she? She would have to go back to her real home, right?” he mumbled.

Eda ponders the thought of Luz one day having to go back to the human world. A thought she feels no joy in entertaining a second longer. She rattles her fingers across his skull and sighs, “Eventually, yeah. We can’t make her stay in our world. But that doesn’t mean she can’t visit us from time to time. And whether or not her mother finds out and forbade us from seeing her, then we’ll just hop over and grab her whenever we feel like it.”

“… pretty sure that’s illegal there too.”

“What are you, an Earth Lawyer?” Eda and King laughs before embracing each other again. The tender moment fades as the sound of heavy debris being thrown aside. Bursting out of the rubble now in its true form, the Skull Screamer lets out an awful hiss and stares down at them with drool and venom dripping from its fangs.

“You dare rob me of my prey!? I was going to save you for _desert!”_ it howls angrily.

“I ain’t no desert, you disgusting critter,” Eda snaps, “I’m more of a full course kind of gal.”

“Then allow me to indulge!” The spider lunges at the two but barely touched either of them as Eda pulls herself and King away from its spindly legs. The creature lets out a frustrated scream then slams its legs to the ground and tears through the flooring like it was made of fabric. Dark, ink-like substance pools out of the tear and flows outward towards Eda and King.

“I will subjugate you both in your worst nightmares! I will swallow your screams and drink your despair!”

“Pfft,” Eda rolls her eyes at the over-the-top threat, “Get a load of this spider’s bad guy act. Swallowing our screams, what a load of-are… are you writing it down?” She stares down at King who stops mid writing and quickly hides the notepad and pen behind him.

“Nope! Totally not keeping note of it so I would use later,” he lies. King looks back up and points, “Look out!”

Eda ducks another swipe from the creature and attempts to retaliate with a spell, but the magic trace dissipates before she could even finish the circle. “Oh, right. Power sapped,” Eda turns to King ready to shout at him to return it to her, but something hits her hard and sends her flying. The spider shot its web at her and pins her against the wall.

With her arms and legs trapped within the web, Eda struggles to free herself then lets out a disgusted groan. King rushes to help free her but the webs proved too capable for his widdle demonic paws. “I-I can’t get you out!” he cries.

“All this because I let some hopeless school crush stay over at my home with Luz,” Eda complained, “Huh, is this how my parents felt about me inviting dates over to our place? Great, now I’m already experiencing my worst nightmare.”

King pauses in the middle of him hanging off her chest trying to pry the webs with his entire body. He looks up at her in surprise, “Wait, Amity has a crush on Luz?”

“Uhhhhhhh…”

The two jerk their heads over to the large spider scraping another tear through the air like its ripping through the very fabric of space. Black ink spills out and coats itself over the area, threatening to take them as well.

“I may not be as strong as my sibling, but I am more than capable of making you both scream till your hearts explode! Submit yourselves and become feed for my children!”

“No!” King screams and holds out his arms in a vain attempt to protect Edalyn from the rising wave of black ink. But as the wave crashes down, it forms a perfect circle around the two as if it slammed against an invisible barrier. The Skull Screamer lets out a confused and surprised screech.

Eda looks down and notices the ink slowly subsiding away from them and shouts for King’s attention, “King! Look!”

His eyes remained shut as he answers back, “I’m not falling for that, creatures of night terrors!”

“Just open your eyes, you blockhead.”

King annoyingly obeys then stares at the surrounding ink fading away. He stares down at his own paws and goes for a push gesture, causing the remaining darkness to slide back. “Whoa… is this what Luz meant by unlocking your full powers out of nowhere? She’s right! It’s not a cheap plot convenience!”

Eda rolls her eyes and corrects him with, “You didn’t ‘unlock’ any powers, you’re just aware of the dream. You can control everything!”

“Oh… you mean like a god?” King excitedly tightens his tiny hands and stands proud against the creature. Crackling bolts of energy swirls around King as he gently rises off the ground, now fully harnessing and going over-the-top with his dream.

The Skull Screamer sends forth a surge of the ink towards him but with a mere flick of his arm the darkness stops and explodes into tiny droplets before gravitating towards the spider and encases it entirely except for the head.

“No!” the creature screams, “I was so close! How could I have not taken over your dreams by now!?”

King thrusts his hands up causing the roof to collapse and torn apart revealing the thundering storm and swirling dark clouds. He lets out the maniacal laugh Eda knows he practiced for years. He points at the quivering spider as lightning strikes down around him for dramatic effect, “You fool! You truly think that you could control a demon’s mind? Your powers are nothing compared to me! For my mind is an omega, and I-“

“Enigma,” Eda corrects him.

“What?”

“Your mind is an enigma. Not omega.”

“Pretty sure it’s omega,” King ignores her and continues where he left off, “And I shall be the one who will make you scream! Behold! A being of unspeakable evil!” He snaps his fingers, controlling the clouds to swirl down like a tunnel just above the spider. The intense wind whips across the area around them and easily tears off the webs and frees Eda.

The Skull Screamer stares into the darkness of the storm and sees a flicker of movement. Overcome with fear, the creature jumps as something like a snake slithers out of the swirling storm and circles around the spider before tightening its body to it. The head raise up and reveals itself as Hooty who lets out a blood-piercing screech before transitioning into his usual tone, “Hoot hoot! That’s right, a double cameo! Bet you didn’t expect that.”

The Skull Screamer shouts, “What is that _thing_!?”

“Is that a spider? Ooh, I love insects!”

“I’m not an insect!” it defensively protested, “I’m an arachnid!”

“Hmm,” Hoot narrows his eyes, “I don’t know about that. They all taste the same to me. Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!” The Skull Screamer barely had a chance to scream as it was devoured in one bite. Hoot retracts his head back into the cloud tunnel as the storm rises into the sky and slowly dissolves away.

King clutches his stomach and laughs as he slowly descends to the floor before falling onto his back. He points up at the sky shouting, “How’s that for a nightmare? Now you know how it feels! Hahahahaha!”

Eda walks up to the little guy as his cackling dies down. “Not bad, Emperor-pfft-King!” she swallows back her desire to laugh and continues on, “See? You were never useless to us. Even though this _is_ your brain and all, you manage to save us from the nightmares. And good thing too, there are some serious darkness I do not want to unpack there.” A brief chill shivers through her body at the thought of her being forced to go through one of her dates again.

“Heh, yeah…” King answers feeling the guilt rising in his chest, “I’m sorry for not realizing it sooner and for not believing you. I was too caught up in finally feeling like I accomplished something and could pay you and Luz back for everything you guys done for me. You guys are like my family and I… wanted to be able to protect you guys.”

“Think nothing of it,” Eda affectionately scratches behind his ear, “Now, as much as I love to stay and party with you. I got to get going and see if Amity is doing well. Now, would you mind handing me my powers back, my liege?”

King courteously bows to his friend, “Of course, my fellow witch.” He holds up the sceptor that suddenly appeared in his hand and took Eda by surprise who tries to say, “Wait, a second don’t-“

 _Flash!_ The same burning pain struck her in the eyes. “Aw! Dang it, King!” she cried, wondering around aimlessly while furiously rubbing her eyes. King points and laugh at her before hearing the sound of a large door to the dance room opening.

“King? Are you here?” A familiar voice calls out to him. He turns to see Luz wandering inside, inspecting the damage and mayhem of the room.

“Luz!” The little demon runs on all fours to the human girl and jumps into her arms. They both warmly hug each other before King pulls himself away to ask, “You made it!”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world, my booboo buddy!” she says, snuggling her face against his.

Eda blinks out the spots in her eyes to see King having a touching reunion with clearly the dream version of Luz. “That old softie,” she shakes her head, smiling. She felt a little disappointed not dragging him along with her to save the real Luz, but figures its for the best to let him sit this out and enjoy himself.

Testing to see if her magic was actually back, Eda conjures herself an exit in a form of a door that swings itself wide open. Satisfied to see her powers back, Eda cracks her fingers and steps through the doorway.

“Hang on, kids. I’m coming.”

~/~

Luz and Amity finally reaches the mountain on Owlbet’s back. The huge formation of earth jutting out like it had been broken off, leaving behind jagged sharp pieces of rock threatening to impale the very skies itself. Amity taps Luz on the shoulder and points out the lava that was cascading down the sides when it first erupted.

Owlbert encircles the area looking for a safe landing that would safely lead them inside. Luz helps to scan the area before noticing a dark crevice just near the top, perfectly out of the way of the flowing magma.

“Down there!” she said to her adorable giant who immediately dives down to the spot. Owlbert halts before the rock and gently lowers himself to the ground and allows the girls to slide off of his wing.

Amity shakingly stumbles off his wing, feeling whiplashed from the drastic change of altitude and surface level. She trips over her own footing but Luz catches her in time, “Whoa, careful! Don’t want to knock yourself out before the big fight now.”

“Thanks,” Amity silently whines to herself of Luz holding her up close again. “J-Just let me sit on the ground for a moment, please?”

Luz obeys and gently lets her down then runs over to Owlbert to give him a big hug before he heads off. “Thanks, little guy!” A single ‘hoot’ came out almost questioningly from him as he stares down at her. Catching on to what she just said, she answers “Sorry! Not sure why that came out. You go on ahead, me and Amity will just walk our way home.”

The bird nods his head, then takes off. Luz waves him a goodbye and watches him disappear into the horizon.

She turns back and takes in the sight of the ominous mountain and the dark entrance leading into it. She takes in a deep breath, almost to savor the feeling of reaching journey’s end. Despite them only just started however long ago.

“Here we are…” Luz noted, feeling rather burdened by the anticlimax of it all. No personal growth. No lessons learned. Not even a message to convey. It’s almost insulting they made it here without any sense of progression. Downright disheartening.

“I can see your disappointment from here,” Amity took notice of the changing expressions on her face. Feeling well-adjusted to solid ground, she rises and stretches out her limbs, eager to finally put an end to this dream and to have her Luz back safe and sound.

“I know it’s just… kind was hoping for some flavor or flair to the whole quest,” she admits, “Maybe it’s just wishful thinking and all but what if we missed some important deets? Like we just walk in there and there’s some lord of darkness who expected us to know him and his evil plans and all we have to say is ‘oh sorry, we just kind of wandered in’”

“I think we’ll manage, come on. The sooner we do this, the sooner we can have our grand misadventures.” Luz didn’t protest to that and follows her fellow ally into the darkness. Amity fishes out the light runes and hands a few over to Luz. The two activate their spells to light their path forward and to leave behind the orbs so they know their way back.

The two walks into darkness for a while. Their path changing from a tight corridor to a side of a dark expanse where they cannot see the bottom. Aimlessly wondering around, waiting to see what would happen.

Amity wasn’t sure what to expect now. Would the Skull Screamer even show up? They’re capable of controlling nightmares, so what reason would it have to reveal itself? Could this journey be a waste?

No, Amity can’t afford to let herself think like that. She remembers the clouds from before forming into the creature’s body. It has to be around here. It has to.

Luz breaks the silence with, “I’ve been thinking.”

“That’s a first,” Amity grins.

“Hey! I’m trying to be serious here!”

She laughs, “Sorry, you were saying?”

“I never realize how dark and creepy caverns can get. Nearly every adventure story I read, they don’t usually make them sound that big of a deal. But doing it yourself feels… different.”

Amity nods in agreement as someone who often reads the same stories and admittedly avoids the horror ones if possible. Even worse, knowing any minute they could be attacked by wherever this spider is.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. But it’s fine as long as we stick together,” she promised.

Luz smiles but still feels uneasy by the atmosphere of the place. Something about it, the tension in the air, feels really… odd to her. She gazes at Amity’s free hand hanging down by her side while using the other to hold up the ball of light as a torch.

Normally, the idea of asking to hold hands wouldn’t seem so strange to her. It’s just to make sure neither of them get lost or accidentally lose their footing over something they couldn’t see. It’s not weird. Even after discovering that she may or may not started to see Amity in a different way. Nope. Not weird at all. All she had to do is ask.

It doesn’t have to mean anything. After all, she already likes… someone else. Luz felt a lump in her throat and lowers her arm without Amity noticing. That’s right. Someone that isn’t her. She knows this. And she shouldn’t be bothered about it nor should she bother Amity with it. She only just found out about it recently back at the beach.

The beach? When did that happen again? Another surge of memories slams into Luz’s mind, causing her to stop in her tracks. Amity notices and turns back to see her going through the same episode again. “Luz? What’s wrong?” she worriedly asks.

“Nothing! Or… maybe it’s not nothing. Maybe it was something all along.”

“… you lost me.”

Luz was about to explain to her but a distant sound causes her to halt. Amity doesn’t say a word and turns their head to the direction of what sounds to be footsteps coming from the direction where they haven’t been leaving their lighting orbs. The dark area and the eerie silence made Luz to fear whatever terrifying being it could be approaching them. Amity on the other hand, hopes its some type of monster and not that stupid Scar guy again.

The footsteps came to a halt, still sounding a bit far away. Almost as if whatever is in the dark can now see them. Amity and Luz stares into the darkness, trying to see if their eyes can adapt and make out whatever it is that’s possibly watching them.

Luz suddenly finds her hand being taken by Amity’s who stares intensely at the direction, ready for whatever is waiting in there. She gives it a squeeze and holds out her staff defiantly.

The footsteps began again but at the same slow pattern from before.

Tip.

Tap.

Tip.

Tap.

Bam!

“Ow!” the familiar shrill of a woman echoes throughout the cavern, “Who put that low hanging rock formation there!?”

“Eda?” said both the girls. Feeling the rush of relief and excitement, Luz pops her own light spell and lets go of Amity’s hand to run over. “Eda! It’s me! Luz!”

“Luz?” Eda’s voice calls out from the darkness before another loud bang can be heard, “Dang it! Where the heck are you? Is Amity with you?”

“I’m here!” Amity calls out, following Luz from behind. Wondering if it was Dream Eda who followed after them or the real Eda who just got done with saving King. Nevertheless, both her and Luz are glad to have someone to come help.

Luz notices a movement in front of her and shouts, “I think I can see you! Just stay there!” She hurries in her steps and sends her light forward to help her master.

“Oh, thank goodness.” Luz slows down her pace, noticing the strange growl at the end of her words.

“I been looking everywhere for you guys.” The light still surges onward before coming to a halt before two large black eyes and sharp teeth. Holding a pair of large stones in each of its hand before letting it fall to the ground. “No…” Luz mutters, staring wide and slowly backing away.

“You… had me… worried!” The familiar beast using her master’s voice steps forward with its talons carving into the rocky terrain. “I thought… I would… never… _find you!_ ” The cursed form of Edalyn lunges at her.

Luz screams and turns back to run just in time to catch a flying fireball passing over her head and exploding into her. She looks back at Amity balling up a couple of fire spells and gestures Luz to run to her. “Go! I’ll cover you!” she lobs another ball at Eda.

“No!” Luz swings her staff and bats it the fireball off to the side of the chasm where it detonates against ceiling. A torrent of huge rocks began to fall upon them.

“What are you doing!?” Amity cries.

“You can’t hurt her!”

“Her!?” Luz doesn’t explain as she runs up and grabs Amity’s arm to follow after her. Cursed Edalyn screams and begins chasing after them.

Amity looks behind her at the horrific creature bearing some resemblance to Eda thankfully not able to close in well due to the falling rocks. She looks ahead to see Luz frantically activating a bunch of light spells to shoot ahead of them, even letting some of the orbs and even the untriggered spells fall into the dark chasm below. She notices the light dipping into a dark substance along with other pieces of paper at the bottom.

She looks back to see the monster getting closer and closer to them. “Luz! We need to stop this thing before it catches us!” Amity demanded.

“We can’t risk hurting her!”

“That’s not Eda!” she exclaims, “Last I check! She’s not some giant… lion bird thing!”

“You wouldn’t understand!”’

Confused but still adamant, Amity can’t risk letting this Eda-like creature get to them. She looks ahead and notice the path narrowing down into a small opening. As her and Luz goes through it, she slaps a triggered fire rune against the side.

The spell blasts the entrance and showers even more rubble blocking the entrance right before the creature. Luz snaps her head to the destruction and hears the loud whining sound a wounded animal would make.

“Eda!” Luz cries out to her master before angrily turning around to Amity, “I said not to-!” She was met with only a dark empty clearing. Amity was nowhere in sight.

“Amity? Where did you go? Amity!?” she cries out for her friend before hearing the roar of the cursed beast now slamming its body against the pile of rubble. The creature bursts through the pile with one mighty charge and shakes off the dust and debris from its eyes before settling back onto Luz.

“Eda…” Luz backs away again, but this time no other available path lies open for her. She stops short just before the edge to another deep chasm filled with flowing black ink.

Cursed Eda’s voice strains, coming out as a howl, “Luz… you must… stop me…!”

“N-no!” she shakes her head, tears streaming down her face. “I can still help you! I made a promise to save you!”

“You can’t… even save… yourself!” Eda dives at her with her arms open wide. Luz swings her staff and conjures a wall of rock to stop her. It proves to impede her assault, but the wall cracks from the impact making it easier for her to shatter through it again.

“Stop it, Eda!” she pleaded, “You’re stronger than this! Please, listen!” Luz tries her best to detain her in anyway she could, but her beast form kept overpowering through her tricks. Whatever power Luz has in this dream world could barely do anything against her as she tries not to harm her beloved friend and also wracked with worry of what happened to Amity.

Unbeknownst to her, Amity was still in the same area. High above in the dark ceiling, Amity is wrapped in layers of web and slowly rises further and further up by a single, large strand. She desperately tries to call out to Luz but her voice came out muffled and overpowered by the sound of battle.

She struggles to break out from her cocoon, her fingers stuck to her side just barely able to touch the edge of one of the paper runes in her bag. Amity kept struggling until she casts eyes upward and froze.

Blending almost perfectly to the shadows of the rough mountain interior and pulling onto the strand of web like bucket from a well, perched the impossibly large Skull Screamer. Its size nearly as large as a Grudgby field. Its fangs dripping with the same dark viscous liquid she saw in the chasm. Its many large ruby-like eyes as big as her head, all focuses on her.

Reaching at the end of its strand, Amity felt the urge to puke as it takes her body with two of its hairy legs and hoists her up closer to its horrible face. Her screams were still suppressed but were not only of fear but anger as well.

The Skull Screamer gently turns her around to inspect her exposed head and breaks into what Amity could only guess would be a grin. “I thought I recognized you… you’re the one who saved me and my sibling from our family’s demise.” Its voice sounded scratchy and weathered. As if someone was slowly splitting a piece of wood. “We thought our efforts to be vain when we hid. But imagine our surprise when you took us to this place and presented us two dreamers! I could have cast you aside into the abyss, but it’s because of what you did for us that I wished to personally thank you.”

All the fear Amity had now become rage. This revolting arachnid whose kind infested her home, burrowed into her friends’ head, and ruined her chances of to confess had the nerve. The _audacity_ to thank her!?

Amity launches into a barrage of words that were better left unsaid as the spider holds her further away like it just picked up what its dog left behind. “My aren’t you a passionate one? Just like that little girl down there,” its eyes gazes down at the struggle between Luz and the nightmare it created.

“Such powerful imaginations, such wondrous dreams, and such delectable fears! The girl has a big heart, and cares deeply for her loved ones. But thing about hearts however,” it pulls Amity closer to its face, “it can house _fears_ as well!”

Amity glares back at him defiantly, “Mmm! Mmmf!”

“You have a real potty mouth for a lady, you know that?”

“Mmmm mmm mph!”

“Hurl your threats all you want, but you cannot ‘burn’ us away. My strength have evolved from devouring her dreams, I am at the apex of my species! All of her hopes, dreams, and fears belong to me-gah!” Amity’s cocoon lights up into flames and singes the tip of the Skull Screamer’s claw.

“Oh, that’s what she meant.”

Falling far from the high ceiling point, Amity looks down to see Luz struggling to stay on her feet as Cursed Eda continues her attacks. She fishes out a plant rune, the right one this time, and balls it up to throw it at the incoming ground below her. The moment the spell touches the ground, it creates a large rose bud and blooms open to catch and break her fall.

Without a moment of hesitation, Amity slams down an ice rune and channels its power to surge forth a wave of icy wind across Eda’s legs impeding her movement. Luz looks up at surprise at Amity returning to her then slams her staff to aid in encasing Eda’s entire body in ice.

The cursed monster lets out one final scream for Luz’s name before becoming entirely trapped in a veil of ice. Shaking and panting heavily, Luz drops to her knees in front of the frozen monster. Amity stares up at the ceiling again to see if the Skull Screamer is about to make its move but the spider vanishes completely out of sight.

Unsure if it’s still waiting for a chance to strike or made its exit entirely, Amity turns her head to Luz’s crying and goes over to comfort her.

“I’m sorry…” Luz wept, “I didn’t mean to let this happen!”

Amity places a hand onto her shoulder, but Luz pulls her down for a hug instead. Feeling nothing but remorse, Amity returns the embrace. It’s clear to her that this monstrous form of Eda isn’t just some twisted terror created to scare them. It seems personal.

And as much as Amity would want to know, she cannot let this go any longer now. The Skull Screamer has finally begun spinning its nightmares. Her dreams gave it too much power. She can’t pretend anymore.

“Luz,” Amity pulls away and holds her face in her hands, “I know this might sound callous, especially after what happened. But you need to listen to me. This isn’t real! You and I are trapped in a nightmare by an evil creature. You can end this right now by just waking up!”

Her words fell upon deaf ears. The dream still refuses to let go of its grasp on her. Luz stares back in confusion and slightly hurt, “This again!? This isn’t a time for jokes! We need to get Eda out of here and get her help-“

“She’s fine! That’s not the real Eda!”

“You wouldn’t know!” exclaimed Luz, “She was cursed! She’s been cursed for years and been fighting it for so long! I shouldn’t have invited you over!” For her own safety, she shouldn’t have invited her over. Amity knew. Amity knew that’s what she had meant.

But it still hurts to hear that from her.

Luz realized how it sounded to herself and looks back to Amity, seeing tears welling up in her eyes as well. She never saw Amity cry before.

“I-I didn’t mean to-“

The sound of popping and crackling caught both the girls off guard. They turn to see the ice encased around the cursed monster popping deep veins all around itself. Its eyes on it’s still face stares down at them. Then the ice shatters, unleashing her upon them.

There was not a moment to think. A moment to prepare a plan or even to pull out a rune that could protect them. Nothing Amity could do would be quick enough to stop a beast that broke free right next to them. All she could do was to act on her instincts. And so, she shoves Luz away and takes the full-on brunt of Eda’s attack.

Sending the two of them over the edge and into the murky, black depths.

Luz fell to her back and scrambles up to her feet to see them going over. She screams their names and runs to the edge, hoping somehow for them to be hanging off the side or-or anything.

But when she looks down, all she could see are the ripples from the plunge they took. Heavy with guilt and despair, Luz takes her staff and tries to command the dark waters to clear. It didn’t work. She tries to imagine levitating them out with telekinesis, but that yielded no results either. She tries again. And again. And again. Any spell or anything to bring them back.

But it was useless. Useless.

Just like her. A pathetic human who couldn’t do anything to protect the ones she cared about. Couldn’t even learn how to cast reals spells and had to rely on drawings to get herself this far. Too focused on her own fantasies of being a witch or hero or whatever she likes to play as, that she once again ignored the reality of her actions. Causing the end for the two people she cares so much about.

“Stop!” Luz tries to cover her ears, but she cannot drown out the truth, “They’re not gone! I can still do this! I can-“

Save them? Did you miss the last part there? They’re gone _._ Retired. _Dead_. Because of you.

“It’s not…” oh, she’s crying now, “They’re not…”

Can’t even finish her sentence, the poor thing. It’s no surprise. You can’t do anything right. You couldn’t even realize your own feelings for Amity. You couldn’t protect Willow from getting bullied at school. You couldn’t tell your own mother the truth of where you’ve been. And you couldn’t stop Eda from becoming a monster.

But enlighten me, o brave hero. How can you possibly save your friends now?

“I…”

'I?'

“I don’t… know…”

There you have it. All alone. And no friends or family in sight. No one to tell her about the dark liquid spilling from the ceiling threatening to flood the place. No one to come and save her. No one to free her from this nightmare.

And this, I believe, is where our story shall end.

And where my feast shall begin.


	8. Third Day, Part 4

When she opened her eyes again, Amity found herself in an entirely unfamiliar room. The area looks pristine and stark white from the walls to the bedsheets she's under in. Her Grom clothes had also changed to a simple black shirt and shorts.

But what took her by surprise are the two occupants in the room. Her brother Edric is asleep with his head resting at her bedside and her sister Emira checking through her scrollphone before gazing up with a sudden jolt.

"Mittens!" Emira looks over to her brother and jabs him with her elbow, "Hey, look alive!"

"Is she okay!?" Edric blurts out, startled from his nap. The two girls gave him a stare as he slowly realizes what he said and nervously laughs, "Haha, you know. I was getting bored waiting for her to wake up, because I got, like, better things to do, haha…"

"You're so weak, Ed."

"I know…"

"Em? Ed? What are you two doing here? And where are we?" Amity tries to sit up, but her head got assaulted by the sudden rush. Emira gently lays her back down and offers a glass of water from the bedstand.

"Don't panic… but you're at the hospital, baby sis," Emira explains, "That Owl Lady contacted us had no choice to bring you here. You had a Skull Screamer infection, and she couldn't free you from it herself."

The Skull Screamer. Amity remembers it all now. The day at the beach, the dream she went through, and her saving-

"Luz!" Amity bolts up again, "What about her? Is she okay?"

"She's fine," Edric swears, then uncomfortably glances away, "But it's not her I would worry about it if I were you."

Amity was about to ask what he meant by that before hearing the door leading to the room open. The three siblings all turn their heads to see a woman in a black dress stepping inside while holding the door open. Her face is easily distinguishable from her sharp eyes and the green hair she has tied into a bun. Amity felt all heat leaving her body when her mother gave her a scrutinizing gaze.

"You're awake," her tone is more stern than gentle, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm… fine," Amity answered honestly, but her tone went timid.

Odalia Blight slowly inhales and nods at her daughter, "Good. Because I believe you owe me an explanation."

Emira leans forward between them and says, "Mom! Can't this wait? She just woke up and-"

"If she says she's fine, then she can speak," Odalia narrows her eyes at her eldest daughter, "And I don't recall asking for your opinion." Emira's word got caught in her throat under her mother's stare. With her interjection shot down, she sits back with her arms crossed and irritably stares at the floor.

Ed looks at his mother, then to his two sisters. Feeling his brotherly instinct telling him to stand up for them, he rises out of his chair and faces their mother. He clears his throat and says, "Mom, I-"

"Edric, be a good boy and take Emira with you on your way out."

"Yes, ma'am!" Edric takes his twin sister by the arm to lead her out before mouthing 'I'm sorry' to Mittens. Odalia waits for the two to disappear into the hallway before closing the door behind them. Leaving just her and Amity alone together.

Her mother crosses her arms and slowly walks towards the window with the closed blinds and peers through between them. Amity knows this method of hers, pretending to occupy herself, to let the tension to force her crack open. Or at least that's what she thought, for when she tries to explain her mother suddenly speaks.

"Imagine my surprise," she said, without looking away from the blinds, "That I would receive a call from the healers informing me that my daughter was in a nightmare-induced coma. Brought in, not by either of your friends' parents, but by a wild _witch_.

"I contacted them to explain why my daughter had been in a care of a criminal and not staying at their place, and you know what they told me? That neither them nor their own kids were even expecting you to come."

"I-I can explain!"

"Would you?" her mother said in a fake and sarcastic tone. "Because I could not possibly fathom why they're confused as I am since you told your father and I where you would stay at. Unless…" Her expression hardens, "Unless you lied to us."

Amity shifts uneasily under her eyes and swallows. Her hands felt clammy and is shaking despite her best attempts to calm it by grasping onto the sheets. "I did, and I'm sorry. I knew you wouldn't approve of me staying over at Luz's place-"

"Who?" her mother frowns at the name.

"Luz Noceda… the human girl from Hexside," Amity explains.

"A _human_?" repeated Odalia, "You lied to us and ran away so you could have a sleepover with a human girl? What's wrong with the friends you had?"

"They were never my friends!" Amity exclaims, "They're cruel and only care about themselves. They only thing they ever took an interest in me is our family status. They're like… like… parasites!"

Odalia leans forward and replies with, "Parasites that you could _use._ Have we not been through this? You would be in a prominent position to have such relations with their families. We never said you have to like them."

"But I want a real friend!"

"I fail to see how that matters," Odalia shakes her head, "There's nothing beneficial in being in relations with a human child. You realize they can't perform even the simplest of magic?"

"You're wrong!" Amity snaps back, giving her mother pause. "She can do magic! She's been working hard at it and even discovered an entirely new way to do it. She can use paper to cast spells-"

"Paper?" Odalia scoffs, "Pardon me then, I suppose it's an admirable feat to control school supplies."

"You're not listening to me!"

"And neither are you!" Odalia raises her voice back at her, immediately cutting Amity's protest down. "Have we not warned you about choosing your friends? Not only did you insist on becoming close with a human child, but a human child learning magic from a wild witch? What would you do if the Emperor's Coven caught wind of this? They would believe us siding against the Emperor's laws! It would tarnish our reputation and family name! It would throw everything your father and I have worked for away, all because you wanted a 'real' friend."

It would. It would destroy their family if the Emperor's coven believes them to be in support for wild magic. The other families would do whatever they can to destroy them if word of this got out just so they could make themselves look better. Amity had been careless in letting her friendship with Luz discovered. There is no use in arguing against her mother, who believes in nothing but their own social status.

But this could also mean the end of their friendship as well. They would force her to make friends with Boscha and the others again. She would have to avoid Luz like the plague. To never speak to her again. To never acknowledge her as a friend. To never be able to confess her true feelings.

The thought of it hurts. It hurts more than she believed it would. But she must. For Luz's sake, just like what she did to Willow. She would have to cut ties again to spare her of her parent's wrath.

"I know…" Amity's voice croaks, trying to fight back the tears from coming. She can't let her mother know how much Luz meant to her. "I wasn't thinking at all. I was selfish and made terrible mistakes. I'm genuinely sorry. I'll accept whatever punishment and will try harder in school to make up for it."

Odalia said nothing as she approaches closer to Amity. She reaches out and affectionately smooths out the loose hair sticking out from her head, admiring the green color while ignoring the roots. "I suppose we were all young once," her mother began. Amity looks up at her as Odalia cups her chin with one hand.

"But we all have to grow up," she said while letting go, "Once your father gets here, we will discuss your punishment. Your brother and sister won't get off easy either, since they also lied on your behalf. I trust you will do well in your academics once this break is over, especially without that distraction."

That gave Amity pause. Her voice was almost a whisper when she asks, "W-what do you mean by that?"

"Obviously, this human is a bad influence on you. It's one thing to attend a school with hooligans, but it's another to let a talentless troublemaker to drag your name across the mud. Honestly, that old fool Bump must have finally lost his mind to allow someone like that in. But I assure you, one letter will have that changed. And you can continue your studies in peace."

"No!" Amity shot forward in her bed, "You can't have her expelled! All of this is my fault! She's not the one to blame!"

"I'm not doing this as punishment, Amity. I'm doing this for your own good."

"What good can come from this!?" She couldn't stop the tears from flowing now. Her frustration and despair boiling in her stomach as she desperately pleas with her mother, "She worked hard to get into Hexside! That school meant everything to her! Please, don't do this!"

"What's gotten into you?" Odalia snaps, "You don't even know this human as long as that other girl when you were little. What is it about this one child that has got you acting like this? What is it about her that made you go against your parent's word?"

"B-because!"

"Because _what?_ "

"Because I like her!" Amity covers her own mouth after blurting the words out. Her face flushed and her heart pounding so hard against her chest, she could feel the pulse through her ears. She hesitantly looks to her mother who stands there confused by her answer and reaction. Until the meaning behind them finally reaches to her.

Odalia stares at her daughter in shock, her mouth slightly agape either involuntarily or was about to say something but didn't expect the response. At last, she turns around and heads toward the door. She opens it and turns back to Amity, revealing the mild disappointment look on her face like she just heard her daughter saying she got a lower grade than expected on a test.

"You better correct that behavior then," Odalia said nothing more and leaves the room.

Amity felt like her soul was ripped from her body. All the emotions she had went away with her mother, leaving behind an empty, icy feeling. A feeling that is hauntingly familiar, like it had always existed in her life from her earliest years. It had always been faint, and she could never put a label on it. But she knows what to call it now. She realizes this is what it means to be truly alone.

All she could do now to comfort herself is to cry. Cry for the girl who must pretend to be the cold, heartless Blight who sees people nothing as tools. Cry for the efforts that were made in vain of taking back the life she wanted for herself. And cry for the girl she loves, whose future she helped ruined.

"Excuse me!?" Amity snaps her head up, hearing her mother's voice coming from outside of the room. She could hear sounds of what seem to be like a struggle right at the door. "Who do you think you are!? I should have you arrested!"

The door burst open and a woman with a large, gray hair wielding a crutch stumbles inside and pushes back at Amity's mother from getting inside. "And I should have released all those rats I spent weeks training at your school play! You were lucky Lilith was there to stop me!" shouted Eda as she kicks her back and slams the door shut. She props the crutch against the handle and watch in amusement as Odalia struggles to get it open.

"Yeesh, so Odi's your mother? I thought you were uptight but now I can see-oh," Eda held her tongue upon seeing Amity's face. "Guess I was a tad late, my bad."

Amity rubs her face with the bedsheet to wipe the tears from her eyes. Her voice came out a little rough as she says, "Eda? What do you think you're doing here?"

"Saving your butt," Eda answers as she hastily runs to the cabinet and pulls out all the spare sheets they have and tosses them onto her bed, "Because that's what a responsible guardian would do. Now help me out in tying these sheets together as a rope, we're gonna jump out that window."

"What!? But we're on the third floor!" Amity flinches from the sound of her mother screaming her name and slamming her fists against the door. She never heard her mother being that furious before. "You can't just barge in here and whisk me away, it'll only make things worse! Just get out of here!"

Eda scoffs at her plea, "I ain't leaving you or Luz behind to become spider chow, kid. You got separated from her somehow and ended up in a private little horror show made just for you. But I'm here now and I'm busting you out."

The Owl Lady may have been nearly the strangest person Amity has ever met, but what reason does she not have to believe her? Why would Eda just barge in to tell her that Luz is still in danger? It should've been enough to convince her.

But the nightmare has already planted its roots into her, plaguing her mind with doubts as her mother continues to struggle with the door and shouting her name. Luz is safe. You don't have to worry about her anymore. You made things bad enough for as it is.

"Just go…" Amity sniffs, "Tell Luz that I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry for-"

"-for being such a pain in the neck, yeah, yeah I know, just shut up for a minute." The Owl Lady looks around for a moment before spotting the chair next to her bed. She takes it and holds it over her head before telling Amity to cover her ears, then brings it down upon the window and shatter it to pieces.

"What was that!?" Amity's mother shouts behind the door, "Amity! Open this door this instant!"

Before she could respond, Eda wraps her arm around her shoulder and shouts, "She doesn't have to listen to you anymore, Odi! Your daughter is going to learn wild magic with or without your approval!"

"What!?" shouted both the Blights.

"That's not true, mom I'm not-"

"That's right!" Eda covers her mouth and puts her in a headlock, "This is a decision your daughter wholeheartedly has made for herself! She's going to be a wild witch living off the lands, eating dirt and twigs! Whenever they hear the family name, they'll be thinking about their brave youngest daughter going against the Emperor's laws! Aren't you proud of her?"

The only response they got out of Odelia is her belligerent screeching and the vicious beating against the door.

Eda lets go after sensing no resistance from the girl who stares dumbfounded at the door, "My life was already ruined, and yet, you somehow made it even worse."

"My sis said I have a knack for that sort of thing," Eda chuckles and heads over to the window to kick out the remaining glass from the frame. She peeks out the window then turns back to Amity and says, "Now are you going to come with me to save Luz, or are you going to stay and get another earful from mother dearest?"

The sound of splintering wood causes Amity to turn and see her mother's arm sticking out from the hole she made and fumbles for the doorknob.

"You win!" she exclaims and follows Eda out the window and onto the edge. Amity nearly falter in her step after witnessing the ground below them to be flooded in a raging river of black water.

She grabs onto Eda's arm to stabilize herself and shouts, "What now?"

"We're gonna jump!"

"I'm sorry!? You trying to get us killed!?"

"Come on, isn't this the part where 'true love' or whatever gross thing you call it supposed to prevail and help you save the day? Where's your commitment?"

"You're going too fast for me! Excuse me for being a little hesitant after having you barge into my room, angered my mom, and telling me to jump into… whatever _that_ is!" Amity protested before adding, "And don't call it that!"

Eda sighs, "Alright, fine. I'll let take a moment to breathe and then we'll jump. We'll be fine as long as you hold on to to me, okay? Do you trust me?"

Amity gives her an honest answer, "No," then looks back to see her mother almost getting the door open. "But it's too late to back out now, because of you."

"Good, then we'll go at a count of ten." Amity nods and closes her eyes and calm herself by taking deep breaths. Savoring these small moments to herself before Eda counts-

"TEN!"

Amity screams as Eda prematurely leaps off with her still locked onto to her arm as the black waters below rises to meet them. The Owl Lady grins and conjures up a spell to create a yellow barrier around herself and Amity before they plunge into the murky depths. Both of them slams their face against the interior surface from the fall with Eda landing on top of Amity.

"Get… off…" groaned the poor child.

"Whew, sorry. Probably should have made it more elastic," Eda said as she raps her knuckles against the barrier. She goes to help Amity up to her feet and pat down her messed up hair, "How you feeling now, kid? Still convinced this is real?"

Amity brushes off her hand and rubs her aching back, "It's coming back to me now…" She grimaces at the memory of her saving Luz from that creature. How she heard her screaming her name before she fell into the dark waters.

She gazes around the barrier to inspect the mysterious substance then turns to Eda to ask, "What is this stuff?"

Eda shrugs, "Liquidized dreams, perhaps. You know how some spiders inject venom into their captured prey and turn their insides into soup? I imagine it to be the same, only it didn't just make itself a beverage but turn it into some matter capable of creating nightmares."

"Does it hurt her?"

"Nah, they're just dreams. They'll always be more of them, it's why Skull Screamers prefer to keep their victims asleep."

There was some small comfort in that, at least. Staring back at it, Amity could hardly believe this is how the Skull Screamer created such an elaborate scene. The concern of her parents discovering where she is has always been on the back of her mind. But the lengths it went through was more than she would have expected. She could hardly stop her arms from shaking.

"Thanks for freeing me back there by the way," she said.

Eda doesn't turn to look at her as she inspects the dark water surrounding them, but Amity could see the smile on her face through the reflection of the barrier. "Don't mention it, wish I came sooner but that little furball made it harder than it should have. And considering where we are now, I imagine the same for you?"

Amity nods and casts her attention to the black waters around them. Even with the light emanating from Eda's spell, neither of them could see anything beyond the darkness. "You said we could still save her? But how do we get to her now?" asked Amity.

Eda places both hands on the barrier then presses her face against it as well, "It's a long shot, but when I was fighting the other one in King's head I noticed how it kept drawing black liquid to itself. The goo seems to be flowing to one direction. If we follow it, it could lead us to the Skull Screamer. And hopefully, Luz too. I'd brace myself if I were you."

Amity furrows an eyebrow before losing her balance as the orb holding them surges forward through the depths. She bangs her head against the barrier and felt the sharp pain in the back of her head that would have knocked her out if they weren't just mental projections.

Eda stifles a chuckle as Amity growls at her short warning then rests her back against the interior, "So, mind catching me up to speed on what happened here?"

Amity explains the events of her effort in trying to get Luz to realize it was a dream to playing along with it, while obviously leaving out the parts like her encounter with Scar. She noticed Eda's expression went from mild amusement to complete shock when the giant creature Luz claimed to be her was mentioned. But when Amity asked her about it, Eda just brushes it off as some twisted effect of the nightmare.

"Then I pushed her out of the way, and I fell into this… stuff," she gestures to the surrounding liquids, "I don't know what happened to her after that. I didn't think about it, I-I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have left her alone."

Eda slides down against the barrier to sit and yawns, "Man, you teenagers love to beat yourselves up about things."

She got a glare in return for that response.

"What? You did a good thing," Eda said, genuinely, "If it was Luz who fell into that nightmare gunk, all this could've been for nothing. So, don't blame yourself, I guess is what I'm trying to say here." Amity figures it was the best compliment she could get from her and chose not to say anything else.

"So, your Princess Odi's kid?"

Amity frowns at the nickname her mother would certainly not approve, "That's correct. You knew her?"

Eda sneers, "Unfortunately. We went to school together. The same one you two go to."

"Really?" Amity stares at the Owl Lady for a moment, unable to hide the scrutiny in her eyes. Eda sighs and waves her hand at her, "I know what you're thinking. How could someone that old be such a knockout? Well I'm not telling you so quit leering at me like that. Anyways, who's the old man? Wait, is it that pup Ali?"

"A-Ali? _Pup_?"

"It is, isn't it? Ha!" Eda chuckles to herself, "That's what we called him at school because he would follow your mother around all the time like a lost little puppy. Ahahaha! Oh man, that is still funny."

Amity felt conflicted with Eda making fun of her parents like that but couldn't help to stop herself from smiling either. It didn't last as the image of that hospital scene was brought up again. Still, she knew her mother and father met at Hexside but that was as far as they could know about their childhood.

"Were they…" Amity stumbles her words, feeling embarrassed now to say it.

Eda presses with, "What's up?"

"My parents, were they…? In love?"

"Uhh… I guess so?" said Eda with a shrug, "Don't you kind of have to be to stay married and have kids?"

"No, I mean during their school years together. As a couple, did they-"

"Kid, I said I went to school with them. I didn't say anything about being friends with them," Eda interrupted, "Quite the opposite actually. Your version of Odelia didn't seem to recognize me, and believe me, that scenario would've gone down much differently."

"I see…" It shouldn't have come to a surprise to Amity, but she was hoping for something. Something to prove that her real parents would possibly being sympathetic to her feelings. Anything to shake away the fear of their reaction.

The barrier suddenly shifted its direction, causing both Eda and Amity to be thrown aside. "What was that?" shouted Amity. The barrier violently rocks again as something grips the top, piercing through it with sharp talons. Eda pulls Amity to her side to protect her as they are both lifted out of the liquid nightmare.

Amity recognizes the roar the creature made as they rise out of the surface, "It's that owl monster again! That disgusting, hideous creature that attacked Luz!"

"Hey now!" barked Eda, "Not that I care or anything, but were those insults really necessary?"

As they get pulled into the air, Amity looks down and gasps at the world below them. It wasn't the realm she and Luz explored together anymore. Large chunks of land floats in the air like rocks in space. Amity could recognize some of them to be the terrain from the Boiling Isles, and others she assumes could be from Luz's own world. The dark river they were pulled from wasn't running through any ground but is suspended through the air as well, along with many other channels.

At the center of the mass destruction and chaotic scenery lies a crumbling structure of earth still holding the Owl House together. Both Eda and Amity looks at each other in silent agreement of where Luz has likely ended up at. But first, they need to deal with the Owl Beast taking them further away from their destination.

Eda takes Amity by the arm and twirls her finger to manipulate a hole into the top of the barrier. She shoots a concentrated beam from her hand and grazes the beast's leg, forcing it to drop them. Eda slows their descent with levitation then splits the barrier into two separate bubbles with them both inside of one. She then launches the empty one across area as they float behind one of the floating debris. The Owl Beast reels back from its pain and then chases after the decoy.

The two gently descends onto one of the floating platforms as Eda disperses her spell. Amity looks after where the beast flew off to and watches it disappear. She exhales and takes in the surreal scenery. "What is this place?" she asks.

Eda glances at the surrounding mess and shrugs, "My guess? We're seeing the midpoint corruption of her dream being taken over. That building there must be the last recess of her conscious. We still got time to save her."

"What about the spider?"

"By now it must have noticed I'm here and helped you escape, so we can't let our guard down." Eda and Amity turn their heads to the Owl Beast roaring in the distance, "Looks like our little reprieve is over. Come on, we got this far. Let's not lose it now!"

It would be a risk for Eda to take Amity and fly towards their destination now that they got the beast's attention, so they have to make it to the house on foot. Using her magical abilities, Eda pulls the surrounding debris to form a walkway between their floating island to the next for them to cross.

"You shall not have her!" The voice booms from below as more streams of black water shoots out from below and bends around the connecting bridge like snakes. Eda pulls Amity to a halt and waves the one stone platform they're on to detach itself and shoots across to another island to avoid the crashing waves.

She quickly creates another path and runs down to the adjacent platform along with Amity. "The creature is getting desperate. It's trying to throw everything it has at us," Eda explains between breaths, "But as long as we stick together, we'll be able to-"

The Owl Beast swoops down and plucks Eda off the bridge by locking its claws onto her arms. Amity screams her name as she gets pulled away. "Don't stop!" Eda shouts, waving her hand to quickly assemble more pathways for Amity to cross, though only as disconnected blocks of rock and earth she has to jump across than run.

Eda looks up at the cursed, monstrous version of herself. She never has gotten a good look of herself in that form before. She had only an idea from the other accounts and her own nightmares, but to see it for herself now…

Eda shrugs, "Eh, now that I got a good look at you, can't help but feel disappointed. The only scary thing about you is what you did to my hair."

The beast looks down and roars at her in response.

"Can't take criticism either, huh? Well, you are me after all…" Eda kicks her legs back and forth to build up momentum and delivers a frontal kick to its face. The monster screams and lets go of her, but Eda grabs onto its leg and hoists herself onto its back. "Come on 'me,' why don't we go for a ride?" She goes to pull a handful of hair to steer the creature by force, but the hair pulls out from the root with little resistance.

The Owl Beast screams with rage and pulls Eda off of its back and throws her at one of the larger islands. She barely had time to stop herself mid-flight before crashing into the ground, caving a crater into the dirt on impact. She groans and painfully lifts her head and shakes off the excess dirt from her face and hair.

"Once… just once, I would like a normal, good night's sleep," she groans.

"Eda!" She turns her head to Amity, hopping across the debris before stopping at one to point above her, "Lookout!" But it was too late. As Eda looks to the sky, a torrent of liquid nightmare immediately overwhelmed her.

~/~

Eda faceplants into a table and shot her head up shouting, "Who, what, where!?" She takes a moment to settle down before finding herself sitting at an outdoor table near the street of Boiling Isles. Eda frowns, knowing full well she's in a nightmare, but wonders why the scene feels so similar until her eyes notice a slip of paper in front of her.

On it, it reads, _"Let's meet up at the Kraken Café at 2pm."_

She turns to her left, noticing the building she's sitting at is the coffee joint with the Eldritch Barista who waves at her through the glass window and behind the counter.

She slowly waves back and mutters, "Odd… I don't go out and buy overpriced coffee drinks for myself. The last time I been to one is when I had that horrible blind date… at this exact location…"

"Oh good, you made it." Eda jumps in her seat by the nasally voice behind her. She turns and stares in horror at the rotund, sweaty man. Her face scrunches at the sour odor emitting from his body.

"Sorry I'm late, I saw you earlier and needed some time to compose myself. I have a very nervous bladder."

_Oh no._

Eda goes for her best fake smile and says, "Oh, uh sorry hon. But I think you're mistaking me for someone else, I just sat down and-!?" She goes to rise out of her chair but was halted by the iron claps on her legs with the chair bolted to the ground.

The Date doesn't notice and goes to take his seat, "Nonsense, I hope you don't mind but I did cheat a little and did some background digging." He chuckles nervously and fixes his tie, "So you're a blood type A? That's pretty cool."

"Oh god, why didn't it just put me in a slasher film scene?"

"I know I don't seem to look exactly the same as the picture you got, that's the funny thing about images, it just make you seem taller, have more hair, or not a pig person. But like my mother say, it's about what's inside that counts."

Eda struggles to free herself out of the chair, "Get me out of here! Get me out before he starts it!"

"Introductions are always the hardest part to these dates," he continues, "But I did some research and found that poetry is the best icebreaker."

"No…" Eda cries, "Please don't."

"Course I forgot to bring one."

"Oh thank goodness-"

"-which is a good thing I been practicing freestyle form." The Date clears his throat, sounding more clogged than it should've been, then dramatically holds out his arms before him. "Your eyes are as-uh, yellow as the eggs I had for breakfast. Your hair reminiscent as the gravel road I took to get here."

"Someone get me the heck out of here!"

"Eda!" Amity pulls her head out of the pool. She gasps by the sudden pull from the false reality and spits out the liquified terror. "You okay?" asked Amity, in concern.

"Yeah… thanks, kid. You just saved me from reliving one of the most horrific moments in my life. And right before it got worse, too. When he turns it into," Eda shudders, " _a rap_." Amity doesn't know what to make from that statement but gives her a comforting pat on the back.

The Owl Beast dives in and lands before them, letting out another guttural roar as it arches its body to attack. Amity conjures a glyph on the ground and slams it with the palm of her hand. Beneath the monster, a glowing circle appears before a pool of Abomination slime emerges. Multiple arms sprung out of the puddle and latches onto the beast to suppress it from charging at them.

"Nice trick," Eda commented as Amity helps her up to her feet.

"It won't hold it for long, neither of me nor Luz was able to stop it."

"We won't get anywhere waiting for each other to catch up." Eda conjures a spell of her own and creates a bubble around Amity. The girl bangs her fists against it and shouts, "What are you doing!?"

"You still feel guilty leaving her behind? Here's your second chance then, get to the house! I'll hold her off myself."

"I can help! You can't defeat it alone!" protested Amity.

Eda rolls her eyes with a smirk on her face, "I wiped the floor with you at Magicball and you still doubt my abilities? Little runt…"

Columns of nightmare liquid erupts all around the island, coiling the surrounding space, threatening to engulf them. Amity stares, frozen in fear, at the incoming assault. Eda raps her knuckles against the barrier to break her out of the trance and kindly smiles to her, "You're a real thorn at my side, you know that?" She chuckles, "Guess that's why I took a liking to you. You fit right into our dysfunctional little family. Tell Luz she's got a good eye for friends. And that I'm proud of her."

With a flick of her hand, Eda sends Amity forward to the island inhabiting the Owl House as she screams for her name before the coiling river channels closes in. Eda cranes her neck and cracks her knuckles before letting her magical abilities surge forth into her hands. She turns to the Owl Beast, who manages to break free from the slime.

"Fighting the manifestation of your inner demons is a cliché to me," chided Eda as she flexes her right arm and magically creates a golden whip, "Beating the snot out of it? Now that I can get behind. Come on girl! Show me what I got!"

The Owl Beast snarls and bares it fangs at her then lunges but fails to close in before Eda strikes it in the face with her weapon, knocking straight to the ground. She creates another with her other arm and uses to lasso around its body then swings the creature's body back onto the ground.

The island itself becomes entrapped by the raging nightmare liquid and converges together to down them together, but Eda doesn't let up and forms a comically gigantic hammer. The Owl Beast shakes it head from the ground, failing to notice the Hooty-like face imprinted on the hammerhead coming down to meet it.

The barrier holding Amity lands at one of the islands and shatters, causing the girl to tumble out. She quickly gets up to hear the sound of something shattering within the raging torrent. Pieces of earth fell out of the bottom of the sphere of running dark waters, but no sight of Eda or even the creature.

The sphere doesn't dissipate however but shifts and contorts its shape into something else. Tubes of black liquid shoots out and lands at the surrounding islands. It doesn't run through them as liquid would to a solid matter, but it holds still at the surface. Like a support to help the sphere stay balance.

The front of the sphere balloons an adjacent sphere, growing larger and larger than its initial form. Amity recognizes the form as the Skull Screamer just as it finishes its face, now appearing similar to an Abomination in form of a spider. Amity wastes not a second later and continues to make her way to the Owl House. She only has a few islands left to get it now.

"I will not let you take my feast from me!" It brings down one of its forelimbs, shattering through the island just as Amity hops off of it to a floating chunk of rock.

"I'm not afraid of you!" she shouts as she hops from one landing to another, "Luz and I fought against Grom! We faced our fears before and we can do it again!"

"Foolish child!" the spider screams, "How do you think our kind came to be? Our ancestors fed themselves from the flesh of Grom! It changed them, twisted their bodies. Their minds. Their _appetite._ We could hold your dreams, your fears, and your emotions in our fangs and taste it!"

Amity at leaps off the last island to the mainland with the Owl House, but just a hair late from the spider's assault on it. The force sends her flying face first into the dirt just a few feet from the building.

The Skull Screamer plants its two front legs onto the island, dissolving the nightmare liquid from its limbs into the ground. Amity picks herself up in time as it pools towards. "There is always something to be afraid of. We became gluttonous through the bounty only we can taste! Our hunger can never be sated! And you will never see the light of day!"

Amity picks up a rock and arches her arm back to throw at the spider. It rears its head back and makes a noise she assumes must be its version of laughter. "A vain effort. Go ahead! Save your friends from the endless nightmare with that rock of yours!"

"If you insist," Amity turns to one of the pincers he planted and lobs the rock right at it. The Skull Screamer directed its many eyes to the object, watching it slowly sinking into its body before noticing the drawing etched onto the stone with its own nightmare liquid.

Sounds of crackling and snapping fills the air as the massive foreleg made of liquid material freezes into ice. The Skull Screamer lets out a painful and surprised sound as ice continues to crawl slowly up its limb, then lets out another screech as Amity tosses another ice rune into the other pincer.

"Normally this would be the part where I would say some sort of pun like 'ice to meet you' or 'chill out,'" said Amity, air quoting her words before turning her back to it, "But I'm better than that." She ignores its screams and walks over to the Owl House, wishing Luz were able to see how she used her spells to win the fight. She appreciates the lack of Hooty on the front door before opening it and closing it behind her.

As she slams it shut, the screaming from the spider ceases and she immediately felt the difference of atmosphere inside. Amity looks over and felt her chest ready to burst upon seeing Luz sitting on the couch with her head buried in her arms.

"Luz?"

The human lifts her head up, "Amity?"

She runs over to Luz who spreads her arms, expecting for a sudden hug only to have her face grabbed by both cheeks. "Is this really you?" Amity says, testing their stretch between her hands. "Are you the real Luz and not some terrible copy that will probably say horrible things?"

"Owowowow! Stop! It's me!" Luz pries her hands off her cheeks, feeling the heat and sting it left behind.

"Thank goodness, I…" Amity swallows and stops herself from getting overwhelmed. It needs to end now. "Luz, I need you to listen to me! All of this is a dream! Eda and I went into your head to save you and we can't leave until you wake up!"

"Amity, I know."

"I'm begging you!" Amity takes her by the arms, "I don't want to lose you and Eda to this mess I made. I want us to…" She blinks, finally taking in what Luz just said, "What?"

"I remember," Luz tightly held onto her hands, afraid of letting go of it again. "When you fell and disappeared, I didn't know what to do. I was afraid and I… I thought about the Owl House. About you, me, King, and Eda hanging out together. I wanted to go back to that. And suddenly I ended up here but…"

She looks around the dark, empty area. There was sadness in her eyes as she continues, "No one was here. I looked all over the place, and when I was done, I tried to leave but the door wouldn't opened. Then these 'dark thoughts' kept appearing in my head, telling me how everyone abandoned me. Saying things that were… really mean. Like how worthless I am and… a nuisance to others."

"It's the nightmare, it's trying to break you. But now that you realize it, you can wake up and put an end to it all! We can finally go home together," said Amity.

Luz gives her a weak smile and nods, "That's all...? Just wake up and we'll be fine? Okay, I can do that." She takes a step back and rubs her hands together to prepare herself. She takes in a deep breath and holds it while closing her eyes.

Amity watches in excitement, finally reaching the end of this horrid journey. To go back in enjoying their week together. To being a part of their home. They are finally going to escape this nightmare.

… like, right now.

Any minute now.

Luz exhales and gasps for air from holding her breath for too long. "Is it done?" she asks, still keeping her eyes shut, "Are we awake now."

"Luz, this isn't a time for jokes!"

"I'm not!" Luz exclaims, now opening her eyes. There is panic in her eyes as she fidgets around trying to think of why she isn't able to force herself awake. She then remembers that old trick to do to tell if you're in a dream and goes to pinch herself.

"Ow!" she stares at the mark she made on her skin and looks back up at Amity, "It's not working, I can't get myself to wake up!"

Amity felt all hope she had slowly fading away, "That can't be! Maybe you're doing it wrong?"

"Wait, I have an idea." Luz turns her cheek to her and says, "Slap me."

"What!?"

"I need you to slap me!"

"I'm not going to slap you!"

"This is the only thing I could think of! You wanted to slap me when we first met. Just think back to that feeling and do it!"

"Ah!?" Amity lets out a shocked gasp at the accusation and crosses her arms, "I-I never thought of that! What kind of a person did you took me for?" Luz raises her hands and chuckles nervously at the mistake.

_Bang!_

The girls nearly jump out of their skin from the sudden hard knock against the front door. Amity zips around takes a defensive stance at whatever is forcing their way into the house. "Luz, we don't have much time left! You have to keep trying!" she pleads.

"I-I don't…"

_Bang!_

The door bursts open and spills black into the room, barely flooding it up to their shins. A man familiar to Amity enters the room and adjusts his loosened shirt collar from ramming at the door. His steel-like gaze fell upon Luz who shifts uneasily from the scrutiny then settles onto Amity who stares back in shock.

"D-dad?"

"Ugh, what is this dreadful place?" Odelia enters from behind, staring in disgust at the room before them.

"Not a home from any families we're familiar with," Alador noted while keeping his stare at his daughter.

Odelia groans, "And you prefer to be here of all places?"

"Hey, it's not that bad!" Luz retorts, "I mean, sure it's kind of scary at first… and it's still is at times… and I may keep waking up with scratch marks on my back, but you get used to it!"

"Don't bother talking to them, Luz!" warned Amity, "They're not my real parents. They're just figments of the nightmare trying to break us, but it's not going to work this time. Luz and I already know none of this is real. You're too late!"

Odelia and Alador looks at each other for a moment. Then laughs. They laughed and laughed and laughed, until their voices completely drown the room. Amity feels unsettled by their reaction, but it wasn't until the black liquid began streaming from their eyes did, she truly start feeling terrified.

"The charade's done, _dear_. We have no reason to play along anymore," said Odelia, smiling as wide as her face can possibly can.

"The girl's dreams are ours now," said Alador, "the Skull Screamer has succeeded in taking over her mind." He leans forward, his eyes stained black with the vile liquid. "You have failed, _daughter_."

Amity hesitantly looks to Luz who is just as shocked and crestfallen from the news than back at the pretenders wearing her parents' faces. Shaking off her fears and now blinded with rage, she goes to summon an Abomination but the False Alador flicks his hand at her causing her body to be thrown and pinned against the wall.

"Amity!?" Luz rushes over to help her but False Odelia sinks into the flooding liquid then re-emerges right in front of her. She lets out a terrified gasp that was cut off as she gets grabbed by her collar.

"Let-hng!" Amity struggles to lift her head, "Let go of her-mmf!" A hand belonging to the fake father forcefully covers her mouth as he lifts another one to silently press the finger against his lips.

Odelia chuckles and lifts Luz into the air, "We may not be real, but your fear of _them_ are. Not just you, little green, but this child as well."

"I-I don't know what you mean!" trembled Luz.

"You saw what they would have done to that Willow girl," she cackles as her body stretches. Her anatomy thinning in appearance like rubber being pulled on both ends. Her face contorts, still brandishing that awful black grin. "But it wasn't the fear of being kicked out of Hexside that had you worried, is it? No, it's the fear of what they would to do the both of you. The fear of them doing whatever they can to keep you two separated."

Luz hesitates to answer and looks back at Amity pressed against the wall by False Alador. She knows not to listen to them. Not to give in to their scathing words.

But she couldn't refute them either.

"Even if you two do escape, you will both risk the trouble of being discovered. And it will be all your fault. You pushed her to lie to her parents. You risked her life on multiple occasions. Do you think her parents, or ANY parent, would believe you to be deserving of their daughter's friendship? What sane person would willingly let their own friend suffer because of their incompetence!?"

Odelia leans in close to Luz's face, dripping some of the nightmare liquid on her face. "You don't deserve her," she croaks, "But you already knew that, _don't you_?"

She does. Her new feelings and view on Amity felt unwarranted. Undeserving for someone who brought mischief and pain onto them. She never thinks about her actions for once. Always quick to cause trouble for the people around her just to satisfy her selfish needs. It's because of you Luz, that she is in this mess. It's because of you that she and Eda will suffer endless torment. And it's because of you, that I will sire an offspring to devour what remains of your mind and body, and then your friends. It is over now. **I have won.**

"Argh!"

The False Alador pulls his hand away after Amity manages to bite into it. His concentration on the spell falters, allowing her to gain back control of her body. She summons her Abomination to charge forth and suppress him.

Odelia glares at the girl but doesn't bother to move at the girl. Amity mistakes the indecision as an opportunity to strike but when she goes to take a step forward, she found her feet unable to move from the black slime. The substance cling onto her despite her best efforts in trying to break free.

"Amity." She looks up at Luz, seeing the tears falling from her eyes. The pain and anguish on her face, Amity received the haunting reminder of the talk they had before she succumbed to the spider's venom. "I'm sorry," she chokes, "For being a terrible friend…"

"Luz…" Amity balls her hands into fists at the fake parent laughing and savoring their victory. "I had people who wanted to be friends with me," Amity said to her, "I pushed them away, knowing they were the kind my parents wouldn't approve of. All they do is surround me with people to use for my own benefit. I listened and followed them just to not get myself and others into trouble. I let them control me. I let them control my life.

"But they can't control you," she raised her voice, "I pushed you away many times and gave you reasons to hate me. But you kept trying to be my friend! You didn't care I came from a powerful family or was the popular kid in school, you liked me for who I am. Does that sound like a terrible friend to you?'

Odelia snarls at her then holds out her hand to Amity, "Enough of this wishy-washy nonsense!" Her hand morphs into black sludge and shoots out a stream directly at her. Amity covers her face and braces for the impact, but Luz holds out her hand and screams "No!"

The stream splits in half before Amity, letting the nightmare substance safely pass around her instead. Odelia gasps and looks over to Alador still struggling to tear the Abomination off him, "Quit messing around and stop her!"

False Alador sinks into the liquid beneath him with the Abomination and re-emerges behind Amity to grab her. She struggles out of his grip, keeping her mouth from being covered by his attempts. "I could have continued pushing you away. To keep you from getting close to me and risk getting in trouble with my parents. But I wanted to be your friend! I saw the person you really were, and I want to be with you! I want you, Luz!"

The last line struck a feeling in her heart. A mix of uneasiness, excitement, and hope. The dark thoughts plaguing her mind, echoing into her ears became little more than a whisper. After Amity manages to summon her Abomination to pry Alador off of her, Luz asks "You… you really mean that?"

Amity smiles at Luz and nods, "It's true my parents wouldn't like you, but I don't care what they say. They can't force you to leave Hexside. They can't stop you from becoming a witch. And they can't stop me from being your friend!"

Odelia lets go of Luz and charges at Amity, turning her hands into elongated claws at a desperate attempt to stop her. Amity doesn't flinch or close her eyes. She stares directly at the monster wearing her mother's face and watches it takes a swing at her.

Only to find it stop just inches away from her face.

The nightmare Odelia groans and looks down at her chest. Most of her body from the neck down have become distorted and forming back into the nightmare fluid. But at the center of her chest, is a dim light.

Amity notice the brightness of a ball of light floating up next to her. She stares at it in wonder before noticing more pockets of light emerging out of the dark liquid beneath her.

Both Odelia and Alador panics and looks over to Luz, leering at them with an intense expression in her eyes. "You almost had me there for a second. Making me believe it was already too late to buy what little time you needed to completely take over. It was a good try," she admitted, "But you done something you really shouldn't have tried to: hurting my friends."

Luz raises her hand and slowly, dramatically, closes it into a fist. Both Odelia and Alador stare at their own chests as the light within pierces through their bodies. Their bodies' twist as the light eats away at their forms like a fire. They let out horrifying screams until the light devours what remains of them, leaving behind two floating orbs.

Amity watches the darkness slide off of her body and sinks into the floorboards beneath them. Free from its grasp, Amity runs over to Luz, and this time, gave her a hug. "You did it!" she cheers, "You stopped them!"

Luz laughs but it slowly fades as the realization kicks in, "Oh… that must have been really weird to see your parents go out like that, huh?"

"It was… haunting," admitted Amity, "But let's not dwell on that. It's time for us to put an end to this nightmare."

The building shakes violently as something strikes the house from above. A chorus of splintering wood and crashing furniture fills the area as Amity and Luz watches the second floor above them getting torn from the first floor and lifts. The Skull Screamer fills the opened sky and screams at the two, "I was so close! So close in making all of you mine!"

"Well, sorry!" Luz shouts at the creature, "I'm not interested!" She turns her head to Amity and holds out her hand, "Come on, let's go home." Amity thoughtfully smiles to her and takes it. They both look back up at the spider as the light orbs all began to converge together in front of them. The Skull Screamer makes one desperate attempt to channel all of its nightmare to surge forth and drown out the two.

With both their hands together and the last orb assimilated into the large sphere before them, they thrust their hands out at the spider. The giant light explodes and bursts a blinding wave of light. Swallowing the dark spider into its brilliance, burning out all the nightmares and its gigantic form entirely.

Amity closes her eyes, embracing the warmth from Luz's light and her hand. Feeling her senses getting pulled from this reality.

~/~

Her eyelids felt heavy and glued to her eyes. Amity faintly groans and felt the fatigue hitting her system hard. Despite that, she blinks away the desire of sleep and notices a brown blur in front of her. When her vision finally sets in, she finds herself face to face with Hooty peering down at her.

"Were you dreaming about me?" he asks.

"… yes, I was actually."

"Really?" he beams, "What was I doing?"

" _Getting chased_ ," Amity answers with igniting a fireball in her hand. Hooty stares at the flame then back at her. Without another word, he slowly slinks back to the front door and gently closes it behind him.

After… whatever that was, Amity sits up and stretches out her arms. Her ears picked up the sounds of the others stirring from their sleep next to her.

Eda was the first to awake, rather unceremoniously, as she bolts up screaming, "How the heck did you get my baby pictures!?" She pants before recognizing her own living room. Her eyes glaze over until she finds Amity looking back at her with a funny look.

"You… you did it," Eda grins, "You saved all of us."

Amity looks down at Luz slowly stirring from her slumber, admiring the now peaceful manner of her sleep freed from the nightmares. "I didn't do it alone," she said.

King groans and lazily lifts his head up to glare at Eda for her outburst, "Ugh, are you still on about that porker guy? Give it a rest, he filed a restraining order against you after you kept sending him pictures of you eating bacon."

"The last one was pulled pork," Eda said, proudly.

"What's going…" Luz pauses to yawn as she wakes up from her sleep, "What's going on? Are we still…?" She found her answer as she sees Eda, King, and Amity sitting around her.

Eda takes Luz by the shoulder and pulls her in for a quick hug, "We're safe, kid. Thanks to your friend there."

Luz gives Amity a grateful and proud look, causing the girl to melt under her gaze. "I-It's nothing…" she giggles.

"Of course, it was her fault for bringing the Skull Screamers into our house in the first place."

If looks could kill, Amity would have slain Eda at the spot as Luz frowns in confusion by what she said while King jumps to his feet and shouts, "That was _you_!? You have any idea what you put me through? You made me feel things!"

"Wait, that _thing_ was the Skull Screamer?" Luz clutches her head barely processing how such a thing was in her own dreams, "Why won't anyone explain to me what the heck they are!?"

"Fine, you want the deets?" Eda groans, "They're spiders that crawl into your skull and make you scream until you become a dried-out husk for their babies. You feel better now?"

"Not really, no."

"And that's why ignorance is bliss, kid." Eda stands up and stretches out her back. She checks the time by looking out the window and says, "Looks like we still got a few hours' worth of sleep before the sun comes up. Let's all get to bed. We'll have gumbo for breakfast tomorrow."

King stands up as well but timidly approaches Luz. She affectionately rubs his head and asks, "What's up, buddy?"

Without warning, he embraces her arm and says, "I love you."

Luz draws out a gasp and squeals, "You do?" Of course, King didn't mean to slip that out especially in front of everyone. He opens his eyes and looks at the girls all staring at him.

"Uh, no! I mean-I love-uh, you as in-gah!" He stomps his foot and shouts, "Dummy!" and runs up the stairs. He stops midway to point and shout, "Dummy!" again then disappears to the second floor.

Eda walks by Amity and bumps her to whisper, "Looks like he just beat you to it." She snorts from the growl she received as a reply and heads upstairs herself. "You both have a goodnight, and again, good work, kiddo."

Amity watches her take her leave, feeling the warmth of her words washing over her. She felt a bump gently touching her arm and turns to see Luz pressing her head against it. She squeaks as Luz giggles, "Someone really impressed Eda tonight."

"I-I didn't do it for her…" she stammers.

"No," Luz nods, "You did it for me. All those things you said back there. How hard you tried to save me from those nightmares. That was… really amazing of you."

Amity couldn't look at her now from hearing those praises. She didn't feel deserving of them for causing the trouble in the first place, but it touches her heart nevertheless. "You'd do the same. I just did what was right," she turns and smirks, "Of course, you didn't make it easy."

She was hoping for a playful reaction, but what she got was Luz's smile fading as she stares into space. Immediately regretting the jab, she says "Not that it was bad! I meant-"

"I know," Luz interrupts, "The Skull-er, spider was trying its best to stop me. I had nightmares before, but I never had ones that were so… personal." Amity nods, recalling that hospital scene. Had Eda not shown up, they would have both been done for. Not only that, but the way how her 'parents' were really tearing into Luz. Saying such awful things to her. It wouldn't be too far from the truth, but the things they said to her were the same as the conversation they had just before Luz passed out.

"Luz, do you mind if I ask what happened back there?" Luz looks up at her, confused by what she meant at first before realizing it. She hesitates to answer, thinking back to how she discovered her new look on Amity. But after what they went through. It only seemed fair to explain. Fair to tell her the truth.

"I… You remember our talk at the coffee shop? The one about… crushes?"

Amity held her breath. Her heart races but she pinches her leg to keep herself under control to listen. "Yeah, what about it?" she asks.

Luz taps her fingers on the floor, fighting against her flight mode. She squints her eyes and blurts, "I tried to find out about your crush behind your back!"

"What!?"

"I know! It's awful and personal! You didn't seem like you wanted to outright tell me and I… I got curious, so I tried to learn what I can from Willow and might've told her you had a crush without your permission, so I'm sorry about that as well! But when I got nothing, I thought to ask your old friend Skarra since you two been together for a while. But she… she didn't like me… she really gave me a serious verbal beatdown, about how I ruined your friendship with her and Boscha. How horrible of a friend I seemed to you and I… I believed her."

"Skarra!?" Luz noticed that got a bigger rise out of her, "You're saying Skarra said those awful things to you!? That little-!"

"Hey! It's okay!" Luz throws her hands up at her, "It was really mean and out of nowhere, but I kinda deserved it. It's not like I don't understand where's she coming from. She seems to really think you three were good friends…"

Amity eases her tension a little. She lets out a strained sigh and says, "Yeah, Skarra wasn't as bad as I thought she was when we first met. But her and Boscha been friends since they were babies. She always follows her around. Never questioning her. Never challenging her. She knows how mean Boscha can get but her idea of being a friend means enabling their actions whether they're good or bad. I tried to explain to her that's not how it should've been but… I wasn't in the right to say that either."

Luz turns her gaze to the floor, thinking back to how Skarra must have feel of losing a friend. "When you explain it that way, it's actually pretty sad."

Amity leans against the couch, noticing it must have been brand new after causing the last one to combust. She continues with, "But that still doesn't give her the right to speak on my behalf. I gave her a chance to understand my decision, but she would rather follow Boscha and continue acting all high and mighty. She has no say in whoever I speak to. I choose my own friends. Not her. And not my parents. Not anymore…"

Her defiance felt inspiring to Luz there. It was a shame the dream version she had of Amity being a knight wasn't real. She would certainly pull off the role. That moment of admiration zips out of her head though once Amity turns to glare at her, "Don't think I forgot about what you did."

Luz jumps and plants her face onto the ground to beg for her forgiveness. "I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I won't ever do it again! I learned the error of my ways!" she pleaded.

"If you wanted to know… why didn't you just ask me?"

The human girl opens her eyes and gazes up at Amity who turns her head away. Her cheeks flush in bright red color. Luz assumed the reaction was of her embarrassing posture and sits up, "You're not mad?"

"Of c-course I am!" Amity snaps, "All this could've been avoided if you had just asked me…"

Luz picks up the message. She wants her to ask. Amity's willing to let her know about who she likes. The reason behind her behavior. The person she wanted to go to Grom with. The person she practiced pick-up lines in their bathroom. She can finally learn the truth with her consent.

"No, that's alright." Amity spins her head at her response, "W-what?"

Luz shakes her head, her heart feeling like it had frozen over and with one tap it would shatter. To learn about who Amity likes that isn't her, after everything that has happened between them, she wouldn't be able to take it. Luz forces a smile and says, "It shouldn't have mattered to me. You like someone and I felt like I needed to know-as a friend! And that's wrong. I'm not entitled to know everything about my friends. It doesn't matter. You like someone else and that's cool. So you don't have to feel like you need to-"

"It's you, doofus!"

"… huh?"

Amity was not having it. Her face could not be any more indistinguishable with a tomato due to the mix of anger and flutter. "The girl I like! The girl we been talking about today! It's you! I like you, Luz!"

Amity huffs and puffs, feeling the massive weight finally lifting from her chest. But it leaves behind an uncertain emptiness. It's hard to describe the feeling as being satisfied. Nor does it seem to allude to feeling like freedom. How Luz will respond to her now will be the deciding factor.

And so, she waits. She waits for the human she likes to process the news. Each second that passes felt like an eternity. Her nerves causing her body to shake. Her emotions boiling out of control in her heart. Her mind going blank, not daring to imagine the outcome of this.

Luz, staring wide eye at the girl before her with an expression that does not hint acceptance nor denial, finally blinks. She swallows and breathes in. Her mouth parting slightly to speak up now for the first time.

"¿Qué?"

Amity blushes angrily and gasps, "Ah, seriously!? I know you can be immature but that is not funny!"

Luz flails her hands at the grave misunderstanding, "¡Me voy al modo español cuando me pongo nerviosa!" She slaps herself with both hands, "I mean I go Spanish mode when I'm nervous!"

Amity held back her emotions, remembering that Luz is bilingual in human languages. She watches the human girl physically expressing her shock by fidgeting with her hands and barely making eye contact. It wasn't what she expected, but it was oddly comforting to not be the only one emotionally distressed.

"I-I didn't… oh, wow I… all those things I said and-and all this time," Luz desperately grabs both of her arms together to keep them from moving and timidly looks back to Amity, "Amity-this… you're not joking are you?"

Amity didn't get a chance to respond before watching Luz slaps her forehead shouting, "What am I saying! That was rude to ask! I-I mean, w-what brought this… ah!"

"Calm down!"

"Perdón! I'm sorry!" Luz stands up and paces around the room to exercise out the jitters in her body. Amity waits patiently for her to settle down, feeling more unease with bringing such discomfort to her. "I didn't mean to make you feel this way," she said.

"No no no! It's not your fault!" said Luz as she sits back down on her knees, "I just… I didn't think this would happen to me. I thought I would be the one doing the embarrassing the confession! When did this happen?"

"I don't know!" Amity exclaims, "It just… started. I couldn't get you out of my head. When I think about those times we spent together, I keep thinking about how amazing you are. How you were so kind, smart, and even cute." She bites down her teeth for letting that one slipped.

"C-c-cute?" Luz had often heard that word said to her by her mother, but the only other time she received it from someone was Amity's sister, Emira. But to hear Amity say it to her during a confession? "Aha ha… wow, that uh… that's… new…"

"I didn't mean to say that!" Amity shouted, keeping her face turned away.

"All this time… you had a crush on me?"

She nods.

"And that invitation to the Grom… that was for me?"

"Yes."

"And those pickup lines in the bathroom?"

"Yes-wait," Amity snaps her head to her with saucers for eyes, "You heard that!?"

Luz was going to explain that she heard it from King but stop herself from throwing him under the bus. So instead she nods. Amity buries her face into her knees and groans. "Just kill me…" she begs.

"All this time," Luz repeated, "And I didn't know? Amity, I'm so sorry."

"You didn't do anything wrong," Amity said between her knees.

"Are you kidding!? Do you know how much I hated the 'oblivious love interest' trope?" Luz exclaims, "I always thought you have to be legally identified as a rock to not notice someone taking an interest in you! Oh man, I owe so many main characters an apology."

Amity couldn't help but to laugh at that. "Stop! I'm supposed to be embarrassed to death over here!" she giggles.

"I'm being serious here!"

"So am I!" Amity continues to laugh, feeling thankful and slightly resentful for Luz bringing her out of her shell. Luz waits for her to finish as the laughter dies down.

Amity felt better for sure, knowing Luz didn't outright rejected her feelings. But her heart still is in constant alert. She wants to know for sure. She wants to know how Luz feels.

"So now you know," she said, trying to choose her words carefully for whatever comes next but the tired state of her mind and situation got her impatient now. "You know now how I feel about you… and I… I was wondering if…"

Luz continues for her, "You want to know how I feel?" Amity nods.

Luz reaches with both her hands to take Amity's. After a moment of hesitation, she complies and face Luz with uncertainty beating in her heart. "You mind if I ask a favor first?" she asks.

She blinks and nods, "What?"

"Can I… Can I hear just one of those pickup lines?"

Amity squeezes her hands and relied, "That's a hard no."

"Ow ow! Okay! I'm kidding!" Luz cries between laughs. "Then how about a trade? You told me a big secret, then it's only fair if I do."

Luz did what Amity wasn't expecting her to do. The human girl leans dangerously to her ear, cutting the lifespan of her poor heart by a few years with how fast it started going. Her cheeks burning red hot at the side where she is leaning to whisper, "I like you too."

"MMMMMM!" Amity seals her mouth shut from screaming.

"Was that too much!" Luz said worryingly, feeling flustered by the action as well. "I was just trying to be affectionate! I didn't-"

"Why?" Amity cries, "Why did it had to be you!"

Luz watches the girl she always thought to be strong and smart. A person with ideal level of maturity beyond their age and levelheaded. Someone who she saw standing up against threats that would have made anyone else quiver. She watches the same girl adorably breaks down in front of her.

When Amity finally calms down, she spoke in a higher pitch tone asking, "How long?"

"Just today," Luz answered honestly, "But maybe it was longer than that and I was just slow to realize. And you can probably guess that was the reason I been trying to find out about your 'mysterious crush'"

"It wasn't mysterious at all!" Amity exclaims.

"Well I didn't know!"

"That's because you're as dense as they come!"

"Geez, for someone who claims to like me, you really are mean."

"And you're insufferable." They kept their eyes on each other, still holding their hands, feeling all the joy and excitement washing over them. Amity revels in the feeling, all the worries she had seem to disappear. The fear of rejection. The fear of their friendship being at risk. The fear of her parents finding out. She didn't care. She couldn't remember being this happy in her life before.

And for Luz, she was beyond ecstatic to know it was her this entire time. The worry of discovering her feelings for someone who already likes another. And to think it was someone who felt this strongly about her too. Hard to believe that it would take for her to end up in another world to make great friends and find someone special.

A wonderful moment to be sure. But the excitement slowly crawls itself into a corner, curls up, and dies. Making way for Mr. Awkwardness to step in as the two just sat there holding hands. Neither expecting to end up in this situation in the first place, now unsure what to do from here.

Luz whistles, "So… what happens now?"

"I don't know…? I never really thought this far ahead," Amity admitted.

"… should we kiss?"

Amity withdrew her hands from Luz and with flushed cheeks, "What!? N-no! Too soon!"

"I'm kidding!" Luz chuckles nervously, the back of her brain telling her to quit playing around or you're gonna blow it. "How about a hug instead?"

Amity slowly nods and reaches in for the embrace. They both stiffen from the contact and awkwardly readjust themselves for another attempt, but it didn't make it any better.

"Ha… this feels different," Luz noted.

"Yeah, it does."

"… do you want to stop?"

Amity thinks for a moment, feeling the warmth from Luz pressing against her. All the experiences and struggles she went through to finally make this a reality. Suddenly, it didn't feel as weird anymore. She liked the weirdness of it. She responds with an even tighter squeeze and buries her face into her shoulder.

Luz felt her affection through the embrace and does the same.

"Yeah, me neither…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Over 6000 hits, 300 kudos, 100 subs, and nearly 100 bookmarks. Posting to this site was a very new experience to me. I wasn’t sure what to expect but imagine my surprise to see a lot of people enjoying it here too! I want to thank you all for taking the time to read my story. All your comments have touched my heart and made me laugh.
> 
> I also want to say that during these rough times of 2020 proving to be the worst year ever, to take good care yourselves. My thoughts goes out to you all and I hope nothing but great things to come your way.
> 
> I'll see you all in the next chapter.


	9. Fourth Day, Part 1

Eda yawns and scratches her back as she lazily makes her way downstairs. After their night of dream diving, she realizes the grave mistake when Amity brought Luz in it was just barely dusk. Meaning she had gotten her sleep way earlier than she had wanted. And Eda is not a morning person.

When she reaches the bottom set of stairs, her ears picked up the sound of snoring in the living room. It took her a moment to recognize it, knowing it wasn’t Hooty’s because his is way louder, but is surprising to think they would be sleeping down here. Eda shuffles over to the couch and peers over to find Luz sprawled to one side with a sheet leaning mostly off the edge.

“Huh,” Eda mutters. She turns and heads to the kitchen. She fills a pot with water and sets it on a stove to boil, then grabs a cup to fill it with water. She takes a few sips from it as she shuffles back to where Luz is still sleeping soundly like a baby.

Eda takes one more sip from the glass, feeling the cool water soothing her parched throat. She pulls it back and smacks her lips with an, “Ahh…”

Then proceeds to dump the rest of it over Luz’s head.

“Ah! Mutiny on the ship! Don’t drown me!” the girl jumps out of the couch and fell onto her side. Luz groans and looks up to see the empty glass in Eda’s hand, then back at her. She beams, “Morning, Eda!”

“Kid, what did I tell you about spending the night in the livingroom? I already had to wake you up from dream eating spiders, the last thing you need is a visit from the sleep paralyze demon.”

“That’s okay! Hooty is just over there,” she gestures to the front entrance.

“Who do you think I was referring to…” Eda yawns and levitates the glass back to the kitchen. Which smashes against something since she wasn’t looking where it was heading. “Anyway, why are you sleeping down here? Is the new bed not doing it for ya? Or did you and Amity get into a fight?”

Luz stiffens at the mention of her name and coughs, “Course not… the exact opposite, actually.”

Eda raises a brow at that, “Opposite?”

“I mean I don’t think we officially declared it but we sort of… you know, talk and we uh-“

“Spit it out or I’m going for a ‘refill,’” Eda groans while gesturing another dunk with the absent cup in her hand.

“We’re dating now!” Luz blurted, then back out on it with, “Probably! Maybe!? I don’t know! Agh, the point is we both know we like each other!” Her cheeks grow hot as Eda took the news like a haymaker to the face. Eda thought she should have gotten herself some coffee first, but never did she expect to receive this news at way-past-too-early o’clock.

“No kidding?” Luz shakes her head. “Huh, to think that little Blight actually managed to pull it off. And here I thought it was going to be dragged out for an annoyingly long time with a little payoff at the end.” She ruffs Luz’s head then pats her on the back, “Good for you, kid!”

“You knew!?”

“It was pretty obvious. The red face, the nervous giggle, and the incoherent babbling? I was questioning if I was going insane for being the only one to noticed.”

Luz is seriously starting to question her awareness skills. If her life in the Boiling Isles was recorded in a book, she can imagine hearing the collective groans of the audience for her amazing display of density. She would also hope the film adaptation would at least get the casting right.

“Yeah so… because of that, if felt too weird for us to sleep in the same room together. So, I opted to crash on the couch.”

“Don’t you have to be married for that kind of thing?” Eda chuckles. Luz suppresses a whine and pulls the blanket over her head. “Don’t joke about that! I still haven’t gotten over it!” she cries.

“Well if you need someone to talk to… give me like ten minutes to get a cup of joe first. Mama needs her bean juice,” Eda turns to head back to the kitchen.

Luz doesn’t wait for her to return and leans over the armrest of the couch to shout across the room, “I don’t know the first thing about being in a relationship! I mean, sure I see it in a lot of books and tv, and maybe fantasize the idea in my head occasionally, but I never imagine someone having a crush on me! I thought I would be the one to do the embarrassing confession.”

Eda responds from the kitchen as she prepares her coffee, “Think you’re giving yourself too little credit there, kid. There’s a lot to like about you. It was only a matter of time for someone to notice. Not that I expect it to be Amity, that’s for sure.”

Neither did Luz. It’s still a shock to her to know that Amity of all people would harbor feelings for her. _Her_. A nerdy human girl who is nowhere near as smart or amazing. She couldn’t help but feel Amity being way out of her league.

Eda walks back in and sips from her steaming cup of coffee, “Oh yeah, that’s the stuff. Look, I know how scary it is to have your first relationship with someone. But these types of things are no different from being friends, you’re just… you know, _friendlier_. You get what I’m saying?”

“I… think so?” Luz nods, not actually understanding what Eda meant by ‘friendlier.’ Wasn’t she always being friendly to her? “Is that how your past relationships been, Eda?”

“Ehh… you don’t want me to answer that,” Eda quickly occupies herself with another sip to discontinue the subject.

“But what do I do now that she’s staying at our place for at least three more days? Not saying I don’t want to see her but I just don’t know what to do. What I should say or how I should act in front of her?” Eda already knew what she’s going to ask when she looks back at her with hopeful eyes, “I could seriously use some advice.”

“Shocker. Lucky for you, I got one that’s fresh and hot out of the oven. It’s cliché, you probably heard about it a thousand times, and you’re likely not going to listen but here it is.” Eda presses her finger against Luz’s forehead to emphasize each word with a tap, “Be. Your. Self.”

Luz rubs the spot on her head and frowns. Be herself? Being herself was what got Amity to hate her in the first place. She hasn’t really done anything different to change that. All she did was be honest with her.

Amity has said a lot of nice things about her. Stuff like being funny, kind, and even… _cute_. It’s still hard to believe Amity called her that. Kids are cute. Puppies are cute. King is cute. Her?

“I don’t know,” Luz shakes her head, “I just don’t understand what she sees in me. It’s easier to see why people wouldn’t like me…”

“Everyone has their bad faults, kid. I know it’s hard to imagine knowing someone as perfect as me, but you’ll find everyone has a downside.” Eda lets out a yawn and lazily smacks her lips, “But a real friend or someone who genuinely likes you would see past those faults. Sometimes they might see it as good ones too. And you already got all three living in this house who do.”

“That’s… actually very sweet of you to say,” Luz said in surprise, “Thanks, Eda.”

“See? I can be a good mentor,” Eda chuckles, “Things may seem different now, kid. But I’ll always have your back when you need it.”

The distant sound of a door opening from upstairs drew their attention to the ceiling. Not long after did they start hearing Amity’s voice calling from the hallway, “Eda? Luz? Is that you?”

“Speak of the devil,” said Eda before giving Luz a wave and makes her way out, “I’m out!”

“Wait, you’re leaving!?”

“I’m just stepping out for a bit. You girls are going to need some room to talk, right?” Eda lies as she clearly does not want to stay for whatever awkward disaster that’s about to unfold. “You already got past the hard part, so just talk to her. You got this.” She walks back to the kitchen and leaves through the backdoor.

“No, I don’t!” Luz cries after them, “Where are you even going!? You live here! Eda!”

“Luz?” The human girl freezes at the sound of Amity’s voice calling her name. She turns her head to find Amity looking down from the steps who offers a timid wave. “M-morning,” she said, softly.

“Amity!” Luz quickly throws the blanket off the couch. She adopts a pose going for a casual look but realizes her mistake of leaning on one elbow while laying on her side. After readjusting her position, she says, “Good morning! How, uh… how are you?”

“I’m fine,” Amity answers as she makes her way down the steps. Her voice is noticeably quiet and shaky. She could barely keep an eye contact with Luz without quickly averting her eyes the moment they see each other. “How about you? D-did you sleep well?” She coughs, “I mean, after what happened…”

“Yeah! Don’t worry about it, I’m fine. Better than ever!”

“That’s great.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Mhm.”

“Yup…”

Both girls wait for the other to say something but neither of them knew how to make a transition from here. Luz never realized how loud the silence can be. Only the rhythmic thumping of her heart can only be heard. Hopefully, Amity can’t hear it as well.

“Is…” Amity clears her throat and clutches her arm to steady herself, “Is Eda up? I thought I heard her voice from up there.”

“You just missed her. Why?” Luz bolts to her feet, “Do you need to talk to her? Because I can go fetch her if you want.“

“No! That’s perfect-I mean, good. Fine!” Amity cuts herself short to stop the volley of words from coming out. She breathes in and exhales to calm herself before continuing, “I was hoping to speak with you alone. To talk about what happened last night.”

“Oh?” Luz notice Amity appearing visibly uncomfortable in making the request. She wonders if it was about the joke she had said last night. This made her laugh nervously, “You know I didn’t mean it, right?”

Amity pivots her head and gives her a disdained look, “What…? But I thought you-?”

“No!” Luz flails her arms to stop her, “I meant about the kiss, the joke that is. Not that it’s a joke, I mean I would be okay if… I’m just gonna shut up now and let you continue.”

Amity stifles a noise at the word and nervously fidgets. “I-I meant about our confession! I should have been clear from the start, I’m sorry.” She sighs and felt her heart doing its best not to burst. Even after confessing and learning about Luz’s feelings too it still makes her feel incredibly uneasy. But she could feel something else in these feelings now. A steady sense of joy and content.

Taking in a deep breath to calm her nerves, Amity says, “I think it’s important we talk about… us. About how we go on from here. If you’re still willing to…”

Still willing to? Luz wasn’t sure what she had meant by that. Her reply came out softer than she intended, “Why wouldn’t I?”

“My parents,” Amity answers, “I may not care about they think anymore, but not only are they still my parents but they’re powerful witches with a lot of influence. They’re capable of doing whatever it takes to make sure their precious daughter doesn’t stand out of line… I don’t care what they’ll do to me.”

Amity turns to Luz, “But I don’t want them to hurt you.” She places a hand over Luz’s. It wasn’t an intentional act as she was unaware of her arm even moving. When she notices Luz staring down and followed its direction, she blushes and pulls it back.

“There was something on your hand!” she poorly lies, still feeling the touch residing on her palm. “The point is, we would have to be extremely careful. Its one thing being my friend but being… s-something more could put you at risk. I don’t blame you if it sounds like a lot of pressure. If you prefer… you could back out now.”

Luz widens her eyes. It hasn’t even been a day and already she’s being asked if they want to break up? Could you even do that? Did she just break a record?

“It’s enough to know you like me. And you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that, really. I wouldn’t mind for us to stay as friends. For us too…” Amity shifts her face away as her voice cracks at the end. Luz reaches out but hesitates when she heard a soft sob escaped. Amity ignores it and finish her words with, “We can still be Azura Book club members… right?”

It’s not like Luz doesn’t understand where Amity is coming from. From what she seen, even ignoring the monstrous nightmare versions, her parents seem intense. And she saw what they were going to do to Willow for just being a friend even though they practically eight years old. If they found out about her? She could be expelled in Hexside. Her name would be infamous. And she could possibly never see Amity again. It would be trouble for them both to stay together.

Looking at it now, it could be better for them to stay as friends. Backing out would be the smart decision.

But when has Luz done anything smart in her life?

“Do you want to?” Luz asks.

Amity looks back, blinking away the tears. “What?”

“To be together?” she clarifies, “Because… I really want to. I never had a girlfriend before, or a guyfriend- _boyfriend_ , I mean. Hehe… it’s a lot to take in. And yeah, it’s kind of scary to think about it. But I still want to give it a try. Don’t you?”

Her heart leaps, “I… I do. A-are you sure? Not trying to be a pest or anything, but are you really sure?”

Luz giggles, “I am!” She takes both of Amity’s hands into her own and raises them up between them. It would have been too bold of her to follow through but seeing Amity squirming and fidgeting nervously only encouraged her. “There might be some struggles ahead of us, but… I feel sort of… comfortable, knowing that you’ll be with me. You know?”

It’s that part about her again is what makes Amity admire her so much since their last troubled encounters. For someone as silly and strange as Luz, she displays the strength she wished she had during her life. Could things have been different if she rebelled against her parents? Would Willow still be her friend? Could she get them to understand her feelings?

No, it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done, and right now she’s feeling giddy and joyous to have this silly human girl by her side. “That means a lot to me,” Amity blushes, “Thank you, L-“

She stops and glares over her head. Luz frowns, feeling slightly worried by the sudden shift of her expression from a flustered smile to a hard stare. Could it be her hair? Luz tries to look up to check, but she ended up finding something else distracting her. A long, feathery neck… Oh crud.

“Ooh, are we sharing confessions?” The stupid, annoying sentient door owl stretches his face over Luz’s head. Luz lets out a painful gasp as Amity instinctively locks down her grip while glaring at Hooty.

“Hooty!” shouted Luz, “We’re kind of in a middle of something here-”

“My turn!” Hooty declares then clears his throat, “Eda says I need to stop chewing on clothes but between you and me, I haven’t been clean for the past months.”

Luz was about to shoo him away, but Amity stuck her finger against her lips while staring at Hooty. “Hold on,” she says in a steel tone, “I notice I couldn’t find a certain pair of tights in my belongings yesterday…”

He narrows his eyes to think, “Hmm, was it the pink one? I gave that one a try, but it didn’t taste like strawberries at all. Just lies and a lot of cotton. But the elastic made it feel like taffy and I never had taffy before I-AHHH!” Amity lunges at the creature and pummels his head into submission.

“No, not again! Amity, stop! Put down the table! AMITY!”

~/~

After a few hours, King was the last person to join everyone for breakfast. The gumbo one of the frog twins left behind was admittedly great. A perfect meal to enjoy while watching trashy shows on the Crystal Ball.

Only he could barely focus with the constant talking and giggling from the two girls sitting on the couch. It wasn’t so much of the noise they’re making that’s distracting, well not entirely at least, but it was the way they’re acting towards each other. The way they’re sitting just inches apart. How they never took their eyes off each other. The way Luz would sneak a poke only to get her hand slapped by the red face Amity.

It’s sickeningly sweet, except for him it’s more sickening than anything. He jumps off his chair and silently walks over to the kitchen with a half empty bowl. Neither of them had noticed and continued their chat.

Eda continues to stir the pot and looks over to see King coming with the bowl. He groans, “Ugh, what’s with those two? They seem more… _friendly_. Friendlier than usual.”

“It’s called young love, King, and I agree. It’s more gross than entertaining, but they seem happy.” She pours herself another bowl and leans against the counter to eat. “And better get used to it, we’re gonna be stuck with that for another three days.”

“Three days?” King cries, “It feels like months already! We taken care of the spiders ourselves. What’s taking them so long to clean out her home?”

“We did almost die with just two of them, King,” Eda reminds him, as part of it was almost his fault with the shenanigans he put her through. “And she’ll stay for as long as it takes for them to finish.”

King grumbles to himself and crosses his arms after putting the bowl down, “Almost too long if you ask me…”

“King, don’t be jealous of Amity.”

“I’m not jealous!” King holds up his hand to stop his temper from getting the best of him. After that day when he accidentally caused trouble for Gus and Willow for taking up Luz’s attention, he knows better than to compete with whoever she befriends with. In a calm manner he explains, “I’m just a little _uncomfortable_ having a guest over. Just because Luz is hanging out with somebody on this week that I thought was only going to be between us doesn’t mean I am envious or upset. I respect her as my best friend and her choices. That is all.”

Eda snorts, “Yeah, whatever you say, Jelly Boy.”

“I AM NOT A JELLY BOY!” King cries, “I AM A JELLY KING! AND I AM NOT JELLY!”

“Whose jelly now?” asked Luz as she comes in with two empty bowls. King flinches and rambles incoherently for an excuse, “Uh nothing. Food stuff?”

The human girl wasn’t buying it and frowns at the little guy. She scoops him up and stares into his eyes, “Oh really? It sounded like she was referring to you. And I think I know why.” Luz drops the intense stare and snuggles her face against his, “It’s because you’re so sweet!”

“I am not…! Eh, whatever.” He accepts defeat as it was the better outcome than her believing what Eda claims. Luz carefully lowers him to the floor and goes to wash out the bowls. King notices Eda’s smirk and silently sticks her tongue out at her before turning back to Luz. “Uh, hey Luz. You still remember about today, right?” he asks.

“Hm?” Luz half-mindedly responds as she scours the bowls with hot water, feeling eager to return to Amity. She didn’t properly register the question and just answers with, “Yeah, of course I do!”

“Awesome!” he says too excitedly. He ignores a snicker from Eda and continues, “I got us a bunch of snacks for the big day, but I need to do another run since Amity will probably join us. Not that I don’t mind, you know! I’m perfectly fine with it! Really!”

“Selling it a little too hard there, buddy.”

“Shut it!”

Luz shuts off the faucet and dries her hands off. She only was able to pick up half of what he said but was able to catch the last part of it. “That sounds like a great idea! Thanks, little cutie!” She gives him an affectionate scratch behind the ears on her way back to the couch. King did little to hide his excitement with his tail wagging like crazy.

He proudly turns to Eda and points to laugh, “Ha! How’s that! Would a jelly person do that?”

Eda rolls her eyes but is admittedly impressed with how he handled it, “Okay, you got me. For a second there I thought we’re about to have our Plot B for today…”

“Weird way to put it but whatever,” King shrugs and makes his way to the door. He stops by a coat hanging next to it and shoves his hand into its pockets to pull out a small bag of snails and waves goodbye to her. “If I don’t come back, I expect swift and merciless vengeance in my name.”

“Wait a minute, are those my snails? I don’t recall letting you use them!”

“Can’t hear you, I’m already out the door bye!” He slams it shut behind him.

Back in the living room, Luz sat down at the couch next to Amity as she rummages through her school bookbag. “Apparently King got a little surprise for us later,” Luz recalls to her.

“What kind?”

Luz shrugs, “I dunno, I was kind half listening. He already left for something so I guess we can kill some time before he gets back.”

“Okay,” Amity nods, “Like what?”

A good question. One Luz was for some reason not prepared for. It normally wouldn’t be hard for her to come up with an idea, but when she sees Amity sitting on that couch looking at her expectantly with a smile it was like someone just threw her thoughts into a disposal drain.

Luz notice she must have been staring too long when Amity’s smile slowly fades and her eyes glances back at forth. She blurts out, “You know like, uh… stuff?”

“Stuff?”

“Yeah, stuff!”

Amity giggles, “Sounds fun… but I’m thinking this might be a good time to finish what’s left of my homework from school first. I haven’t touched it since Emira and Edric dragged me to that fair.” It was the first time she was glad they did.

“Homework? On a free school week? Ugh, that’s so lame!” Luz backpedals on that statement realizing how rude that must have sounded, “Lame as in how disappointedly easy it must be for you. With you being in a top track like Abomination and being so gifted and smart…”

Amity loved the compliment, despite how oddly structured it was, and blushes. But it then occurs to her what Luz just said that bothers her. “You know I’m talking about the same homework assignment everyone at school got?”

Luz blinks, “Everyone?”

“Yeah… you did do yours, right?” Amity asks, now watching Luz’s expression falling into anxiety. “Luz? Did you even start on your assignments?”

“Uh… not really, because… I don’t recall getting them?”

“What?” Amity nearly shot to her feet, “But everyone was supposed to be given an assignment from their chosen track.”

But she didn’t choose a track. Right, Luz couldn’t have known because she is learning from all of the tracks. Could she be exempt from the homework due to her special role? That wouldn’t seem likely since the work is supposed to make up for the days they’ll be missing.

“Usually they would send the assignments to their home if a student was absent on that day. Did you check your mail at all during the week?”

“Good idea.” Luz cups her hands and shouts, “Eda!”

“Yo!” The Owl Lady walks in just as she finishes her last bite.

“Did you happen to see any papers sent from Hexside to me?”

Eda taps her chin with the spoon to ponder, “Hmm… oh yeah, I think I recall seeing those. I threw them out.”

“You WHAT!?” the girls screamed.

“Nice harmony,” snided Eda, “Oh don’t give me those looks. Homework is a huge waste of time. What’s the point of attending classes that you’re already getting up early in the morning for to sit there for eight hours every day for twelve years that they felt the need to waste even more of your personal life? You know whose class doesn’t have homework? That’s right, this gal.”

Amity raises an eyebrow, “But your lessons are primarily done from home. Wouldn’t that just make it all homework?”

“… don’t ruin it for me too, kid.”

“Eda,” Luz claps her hands for her attention, “I dig your defiant wildfire spirit, really I do. But I went through a lot of trouble to convince Principal Bump to allow me to learn from all tracks. What kind of a message would I be sending if I start ignoring my schoolwork? I can’t afford to be a delinquent!”

“Calm down, I still have the trash lying around somewhere. Was going to use it for target practice,” Eda conjures a glyph in front of her. The distant sound of something rustling and knocking over a few objects on the way here reveals a big black trash bag floating towards Eda’s hand.

“Eugh!” Amity cringes, “Did you have to bring the whole garbage with it?”

Eda shakes her head, “Oh no, I don’t mix papers with my usual trash. This is all that came in from the mail.”

“Wait,” Luz watches the bag slowly hovering over her, “What do you mean by-“

The knot on the back unties itself through Eda’s magic before the entire bag flips upside down, burying Luz in an avalanche of papers. She pops her head out from the bundle of paper and scans every one of them.

“Are all of these school assignments!?” she cries.

Amity stares incredulously at the pile and picks up some of the paper to inspect, “T-that can’t be! Even I don’t get this much work at once in any of my classes let alone a week-off assignment.”

“You can imagine why I took the initiative of getting rid of them. You’re welcome,” Eda says, huffing at them for biting at her generous deed.

Luz shuffles herself out of the pile before feeling a thick parchment jabbing at her stomach. She digs through and pulls out a letter with a stamped seal of Hexside’s logo. She opens it and takes out the letter from within.

“Dear Luz the Human,

“Due to the peculiar status of your education at our school we could not find a proper fill in for this week’s assignment. The grades have already been set up for you to complete an assignment from every track. We apologize for the poor planning and whatever inconvenience this might cause. For that reason, we’ll allow for half of the assignments to be completed and turn in to receive full credit for all tracks. Failure to meet this condition will severely impact your grade and will likely force us to revoke your status. With your grades and performance, I have full faith in your abilities to see this through

“Best of luck, Principal B. The ‘B’ stands for Bump, of course, just trying to appeal to the younger kids, you know-oh, nevermind it’s stupid. You’re not still writing this part down, are you Janette?”

Luz lowers the paper and lets it fall from her hand. “Oh good,” Luz squeaks with a forced grin, “For a second there, I thought it was going to be good news…”

“He’s bluffing,” Eda wagers, “Want me to send a strongly worded letter? It’ll be a nice change not having to forge them this time.”

“You’ve done quite enough, thank you.” Amity pulls Luz away and shakes her, “Don’t panic! You saw what the letter says, you only need to do about half of these to pass.”

“But this could take me days to finish and we’re already about halfway through the week!” Not to mention this would eat up all the time she could have spent with Amity.

Amity goes down to her knees and picked through the papers, “Then we’ll work together! I’m familiar with some of these subjects. We can start by sorting out the papers to their proper assignments, pick out your strongest subjects, and then we can go on from there.”

Luz looks at Amity with renewed hope, a feeling that is just as strong as their conflict against the nightmare they were in. Not even a fear-devouring spider could compete against the stress of piled homework deadlines.

She asks, “You will?” Amity nods then gets pulled into a hug from Luz, “Oh thank you so much! You’re the best!” Luz felt her stiffen before her and realized what she’s doing. She lets go for her to pull away, but Amity still clings against her for a moment longer.

“… oh… oh, sorry, I thought…” Amity withdrew her face now feeling the weight of the embarrassment.

“No, I shouldn’t have-“

“I don’t mind!”

“Really? Then you wanna… try again?”

“… um… not now, maybe? I don’t know…”

“UGH!” Eda groans in disgust and covers her ears on the way out, “I’m getting secondhand embarrassment here from you two. If you need me, I’ll be outside trying not to hurl.”

They watch her shut the door behind her and turn back to look at each other. Amity breaks the silence first with, “I’ll… I’ll start sorting out the papers!”

“Good idea!” said Luz, a bit too hastily. “I’ll grab some snacks from the kitchen. I think I recall King mentioning he got them for us…”

They cleaned up the mess of papers from the floor and carefully organizes them. Picking out the best subjects Luz knows she’s confidant in completing. The five tracks being Plant, Illusion, Bard, Potion, and Abomination.

Amity takes out her own work and sat down with her by the coffee table. It didn’t take long to finish hers as Luz got halfway through the first assignment from the Plant Track, but now that she’s available Amity was able to help Luz speed through it.

“Hey, not bad. I didn’t figure you to have a green thumb at this sort of thing,” Amity noted.

“Thanks, but I can’t take all the credit. I took classes with Willow and she’s a prodigy at that stuff. Gus is a real whiz too with Illusions, so you can imagine why I pick those two.”

A prodigy? So she really was talented after all. Amity remembers how hard it was for Willow to catch up in Abomination Track. She certainly hasn’t made it easier for her too with the constant belittlement. It seems scary to believe now, looking back at it, how different of a person she was. Someone who had to throw away their friendship for the sake of the other. To pretend that the person wasn’t worthy of being a friend or a witch.

But the scariest part about it all, was that Amity forgot when it stopped being pretend. It feels sickening to think about it.

“Amity?” She felt the jab at the end of Luz’s pencil against her cheek. She flinches and pushes her hand away, “Hey! I’m here! What?”

“You seem kind of distant there for a second,” Luz said with concern, “Is something the matter?”

“It’s nothing, really…” Amity says, rubbing at her cheek. “Did you have a question?”

“Nope!” Luz declares proudly and shuffles the papers together before giving them a tap against the table to straighten them out. “First one down for the count! Chip me!” She opens her mouth wide and points at it.

Amity merely stares at the girl then glances around, unsure what she is doing. “Uh, what?” she mutters.

Luz open her eyes to see if Amity was being serious, “You know? That thing people do when one has their mouth open and the other tries tossing a chip into it? A victory snack!”

“I don’t get it.”

“Just give it a try!” Luz hands her the bag of opened chips and opens her mouth again. Amity frowns and takes out a crisp, cheeseball. She carefully holds it between her thumb and index finger like she’s about to flip a coin and braces herself for whatever is about to happen. She releases her thumb and shoots the chip high into the air.

Which proceeds to bop Luz’s nose, missing the target entirely and making her let out a small “ah!” noise. Amity burst into a fit of giggles, “This is so dumb!”

“It’s supposed to be dumb,” Luz playfully retorts, “Give it another try, you got this!”

Amity obeys and takes out another cheeseball, now more confidant in landing the shot. She angles her hand and calculates the trajectory, the rate of descent, the sodium content, and the air resistance before making another shot. This time it lands perfectly on her tongue. Luz beams and crunches on her snack, giving Amity a thumbs up.

The way she glows from catching that snack triggers something in the back of Amity’s brain. A newfound desire to get her to do that trick again. Anything to see that adorable face she makes. “Again,” Amity said, pulling out another chip.

“Oh, okay!” Luz opens her mouth like a pet waiting for her treat. This time the chip bounces off her forehead but before she can tilt her head back down, another chip pelts her against the cheek. And another. And another. And another.

“Stop!” Luz giggles under the rapid assault of the chips. She blindly waves her arms to block the shot before finding Amity’s and takes them. The girls laugh together as Amity ceases her fire and drops the bag back onto the table.

“Okay,” Luz squeezes her hands, “I think somebody got a little too excited there.”

“I could’ve made it,” Amity says with a sly smile.

“Yeah, in my eyes.” Luz laughs along with her again. She glances down at their hands interlocked with each other as Amity continues losing herself. Luz looks back up and watches her in admiration. It still doesn’t make sense to her that such an amazing girl likes her. But here she is, laughing hysterically and sitting so close.

It’s a strange thing to just discover a crush on someone. She knew Amity was pretty but... she really is pretty. After being used to her serious mannerism and mature attitude, to see her like this is endearingly adorable.

“You know,” Amity quiets down after hearing Luz suddenly speaking up, “I was admittedly scared this morning about… us. Not that I have a problem with it, it’s just I wasn’t sure what it would be like.”

“What do you mean?” she asks.

Not a question she was prepared for. Luz stumbles on her words as she scratches her head, “I don’t know… I thought things would be drastically different between us. It is kind of new, but still familiar. Guess what I’m trying to say is, that I like this. Like we’re still friends of some sort.”

Amity tries to smirk but the words that came out of her were timid and shaky, “Well… why do you think it’s half of the word girlfriend…?”

Luz’s jaw drops and she slams her hands onto the table in astonishment. “You’re right, it is!” she exclaims.

“You just found that out now!?”

“Oh man, could you imagine how Willow and Gus will react?” Amity’s expression drops at the mention of their names again. Luz notices the change and lowers herself back to her spot. She didn’t understand until she recalls the talk they had this morning. “Oh, you don’t want them to know?” she assumes.

Amity shakes her head, “No, it’s not that. I don’t mind if they know. I’m just… worried how they would react… or if someone else finds out and it gets back to my parents somehow.” She knows the two of them won’t have a problem about it, or at least she knows Willow won’t… hopefully. But if its one thing Amity knows for sure is that there are others who are aware of her family status that won’t hesitate to make it known about her relationship. Students from other families who are competing against hers. Or people like Boscha would like a chance of getting back at her. They would have to be careful.

“Should we talk about who we want to know?” Luz suggested, “You know, establish some ground rules or something?”

Not a bad idea. Once again, Luz showing off that hidden brilliance of her. Amity agrees, “Yeah, that could work. Maybe we should list off the ones we want to tell first? Eda and King already knows about us-“

“And Hooty!” Luz interjects.

“… sure, Hooty… and the people we will eventually tell so far are Willow and Gus.” Amity counts on her hand then turns to Luz, “Who else do you want to tell?”

“I kind of want to tell everyone.”

“Luz!”

“I know!” She chuckles at the colors rising in Amity’s cheeks, unsure if they’re by embarrassment or annoyance. Either way, she can see why her siblings love to poke fun at her. Luz gives it some thought, “Hmm… I guess it wouldn’t matter to them but if it’s alright with you I would like to let my fellow multi-track friends know. You might’ve heard of them. Jerbo, Barcus, and Viney.”

“I’m familiar with some of them… but are you sure they can keep a secret?”

“Heck yeah!” Luz proudly exclaims, “Our bonds have been forged by the isolation of detention, where we retreat to our secret hideout that allows us access to-I mean nothing, because it is a secret and we keep it _very_ hidden!”

Amity frowns but not at the last part, “You were in detention? Wasn’t that your first day?”

“That’s right,” Luz stretches out her arms and feigns a yawn, “Guess you didn’t know you were hanging out with a bad girl. I’m kind of… _infamous_.”

“How scary…” Amity rolls her eyes with a grin, “Okay, I’ll trust your judgement. Anyone else?”

“Don’t you have anyone you want to know?” Luz inquires.

“I… don’t exactly have any other friends now…” There was no way she could make that sound any less sad. It’s not like she has other acquaintances to talk to, but something as embarrassing as this would be hard to share with strangers. Maybe she could tell her own Abomination. It has been supporting her through her crush this entire time and… okay, now it’s just getting pathetic.

Luz sympathetically whines for her and suggests, “What about your siblings? Emira and Edric would be happy for-“

Amity grabs Luz by the collar of her shirt and pulls her close to her face. Normally an action that would cause her to melt under the anxiety of them being so close, but her head is filled with nothing anger. “NO! Out of the question!” she demanded.

“B-but they wouldn’t tell on you to your parents! Would they?“

“No, they wouldn’t,” Amity admitted with a sharp tone, “If you have any _idea_ what it’s like to have two older, annoying siblings that would take whatever they could find to constantly tease, prank, or outright _embarrass_ you, then you would understand the pain I would have to go through. Every. Single. _Day._ The last thing either of us should do is give them more ammo for their antics!”

“Okay!” Luz squirms, “I understand! Please don’t hurt me!”

Amity calms down after she agrees and gently let’s go of her, “I wouldn’t, for the record… Sorry, but my family is out of the question for sure. Is that everyone?”

Family. The word lingers onto Luz for a moment, hesitating at the thought before finally deciding on it. “Um… if possible… I would like to tell my mami,” said Luz.

Amity turns scarlet at the suggestion, remembering the sweet woman from Luz’s dreams. “Oh! Are you sure?” Amity coughs, “I’m fine with it! Just… I thought she doesn’t know about you being in our world.”

“She doesn’t… but I know she would like you,” Luz scratches at her arm, trying to ward off the nerves. It’s already enough to keep her stay at the Boiling Isles a secret but adding another like this is even more burdensome. Not to mention the question if she even approves of her dating someone from another world.

Which brings up the problem. Luz takes a good look at Amity, noting all the features about her that stands out from being inhuman. Except for the hair, clearly just being dyed due to the roots. But it would be hard to explain why the counselors from a place called Reality Check Camp would allow their kids to change their hair color. The golden irises would be harder to explain. Contact lenses could suffice as an excuse but it would also suffer the same issue as the hair color.

Luz is too focused to realize how intense of a stare she’s giving to Amity, making her shift uneasily from her gaze. She averts her eyes and asks, “W-what? Is there something on my face?”

“I guess the ears would be a problem,” Luz mutters out loud without a thought.

“My ears!?” Amity flusters and shot her hands up to cover her ears. “What’s wrong with them?”

“Nothing! I didn’t mean it to sound like that,” Luz defends herself, “I was thinking of sending her a photo of you, but the ears might stand out… a bit…”

A photo for her mom? That’s a relief. She could barely hold a conversation with the dream version of her, and that one didn’t even care about her not being a human. Amity places both of her hands on her hair, testing the length it would take to reach down her ears. “I could just put my hair down,” she offers.

“Hey, yeah! That could work!” Luz exclaims, “Except the dyed hair and the golden eyes will still be an issue. Hmm… there has to be magic that can temporarily change them, right? Maybe Eda knows a few spells.”

Amity recalls the large, unkept hair that doesn’t look like it has been washed before. She shudders, “I don’t know about that…”

Both of the girls hear a distinct voice coming from outside the front door. Hooty opens himself and announces, “King’s back! Hoot hoot!”

The little demon steps through carrying a few bags in both arms, “Yes, it is I! Bask in the glory of the ruler of all-“ He opens his eyes to the girls before him and suddenly drops the groceries, before letting out a horrible scream.

“What are you doing!?”

Luz and Amity looks at each other, then at the table, then back at King. “Homework?” answered Amity.

“Gross. But not that! This!” King gestures at the pile of snacks Luz has taken from the kitchen, “All of our rations for today! You’re already eating them without me!?”

“Don’t worry, we haven’t eaten all of it.” Luz then frowns and asks, “What do you mean by today?”

King angrily stamps his foot, “What do you mean ‘what do I mean?’ All this food was supposed to be for our Ghost Hunter marathon!”

Luz blinks, “What now?”

“The commercial we saw on the Crystal Ball together?” King reminds her, “The one we agree to binging through when your school break arrives? The activity we planned on doing _together_?”

It all started coming back to her now. She had promised King to spend the day with him. Luz had forgotten all about it ever since her encounter with Amity at the fair. “Oh my gosh!” She bolts to her feet and wipes the crumbs from her shirt. “King! I’m so sorry, I forgot! I didn’t mean to-“

“You forgot!?” he cries, his voice nearly cracking at the end. “I reminded you this morning!”

“I-I wasn’t paying attention! Me and Amity were talking and-“

King interrupts her with a frustrated noise, “So you were ignoring me! Even after I bought all this food with Eda’s questionably earned money. Even after I offered to let Amity join us. You were just busy… being a couple of love potatoes!”

Luz wasn’t sure if she heard him right that time and repeated, “Love… potatoes?”

“I don’t know!” he cries, “I’m too angry to think!”

“King, I’m really, really sorry! Let me make it up to you,” Luz offers, “We can still watch the marathon together!”

Amity pulls on Luz’s shirt for her attention. “Luz! You still have plenty of work left to do! Remember what will happen if you don’t have it all completed by the end of the break?”

She hesitates. Luz hates to wrong King like that, but the homework came at her in the worst possible time. She gives him an apologetic look and somberly says, “Sorry, little guy. But I need to work these assignments. If you just let me finish at least one or two then we can still-“

“Rrrgah! You’re going to back down just because Amity tells you to?” King sharply accuses her, “Oh sure, you always have time for her. Let her stay in our home. Let her eat our food. Let her _put spiders in our head!_ ”

“I never meant to hurt anyone!” Amity protested, “You don’t understand, King. Luz will be taken out of-“

“You stay out of this!”

“Hey!” Luz slams her hands onto the table, making even Amity and King flinch from the sudden outburst. “Don’t speak to her that way! What I did was wrong, and I understand it makes you upset, but you will _not_ bring Amity into this. If you got a problem, then you take it with me.”

King stares back at her in surprise. The human girl who always exudes positivity and dorky happiness to which he grew accustomed to, is now glaring at him. He falters back, feeling a pang of remorse and guilt for what he said, but his anger still hasn’t subsided.

King picks up the bags and turns away from her before saying, “It be the first time this week you paid any attention to me… I’ll be in the shed.”

Amity watches him leave, hesitating if she should say something but was too late by the time King reaches the door and slams it shut behind him. She glances up at Luz with her face angled away from her, still locked in her pose.

“I appreciate you sticking up for me, Luz. I know that must be hard,” she said. Amity waits for a response or for Luz to at least sit back down. But all she could hear is a muffled noise. She calls out to her again, “Luz?” and pulls on her arm to turn her around. Revealing a face of someone trying their hardest not to burst into tears.

“Luz!? Are you okay?” Amity asks.

“I just yelled at my baby,” Luz sobs, falling to her knees.

Amity doesn’t know how to respond to that. Before she could even say a word, Luz buries her head into her chest and lets out a cry. “A-ah…” Amity’s entire body freezes, save for her left hand which she uses to slowly pat her back. “Uh… there… there?”

“I didn’t mean to forget,” sniffled Luz, “So much has happened to us since the start of our break. I didn’t mean to ignore him.”

“Why don’t you go talk to him?”

Luz sighs and shakes her head, “He’ll just ignore me. The shed is his way of getting away from everyone. He probably won’t want to talk to me for a while…” She glumly stares at the assignments before her but doesn’t even make an effort to pick back up her pencil.

Luz reads out one of the questions, “’What precaution should you take if your double becomes sentient and seeks to destroy you in order to assimilate your identity?’” She slightly frowns at it but then sighs again, “I’m too upset to even process how absurd these questions are…”

“Why don’t we take a different approach then,” Amity suggests while sliding the Illusion Track assignments away. She looks over at the other worksheets, picks one out, and slides the new one in front of her to see. Luz squints at the Track section.

“Oh… Abomination Track,” Luz lights up a little at that, “I guess I haven’t really explored that track since I was given my status. What do we do for this one?”

“This assignment is an experiment paper, meaning you’ll have to make your very own Abomination.” Amity proudly smiles, “And lucky for you, you got a Star Student who excels in the course that will be helping you out.

That perks Luz right up. She takes the papers in her hand to confirm it herself. “My own Abomination?” she exclaims, “That sounds awesome!” She pauses and looks over to Amity who smirks back at her sudden shift in mood. “I mean… sounds kind of fun.”

“Too late, you already cheered.”

Luz turns to hide her embarrassed smile, “I’m supposed to be sad right now…”

“And I’m not having it.” Amity takes her hand and helps Luz up to her feet, “Just get your mind off about it for a while. You can try talking to him once we’re done. Maybe he’ll cool off by then?”

“Maybe…” Luz exhales and squeezes Amity’s hand, “You’re right, I need to get the assignments done first then I’ll make it up to him. So, what’s the first step in making life, Ms. Blight?”

“Hm?” The title went over Amity’s head but then strikes her back in the head like a boomerang, “Oh! Right, aha… uh, we’ll need a cauldron and a list of ingredients. I suggest we check with Eda if she’ll let us use her supplies.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Luz beams.

~/~

“ _Tonight, on Ghost Hunters. We encounter the late owner of the plantation, Loc Sturges, who was violently murdered in his very own home.”_

_The lead cast member walks up the stairs of the foyer of the large mansion they’re investigating and holds out an enchanted mirror that is said to show the reflections of ghosts. “If this is the portal to hell,” announced the lead, “then why don’t you come on out and show us!”_

_The lights of the foyer flickers, causing some of the crew to scream. Furniture and paintings flung into the air and swirl around. From the ceiling descends a glowing spectral entity in the shape of a man with a crooked figure and hovers over the crew._

_“I am the master of this mansion,” boomed the old spirit, “How dare you vile mortals trespass upon my property-“_

_“Are you Loc Sturges?” interrupted the camera man._

_“I-er, yes?”_

_The lead pulls out a badge and flashes it before the spirit, “We’re with the Emperor’s Coven: Bail Enforcement branch. We been told that you haven’t paid your taxes since your death and have resisted multiple arrests in other counties. We’re here to take you in.”_

_“Oh… uh… give me one second, I left the stove on.” The ghost backs away and phases through the wall behind him._

_“… ain’t the kitchen in the other direction?”_

_“Yup.”_

_The lead immediately pulls out his chatter scroll, “Suspect is on the move. I repeat, suspect is on the move and have exited the back door. Call in the hellhounds.”_

King laughs as the sound of dogs barking and snarling mixed with the terrified wailing of the spirit. He chomps down on another handful of chips before turning back to the screen. “Ooh!” he shouts while pointing, “Luz, look! They’re bringing out the Ecto-Tasers!”

He felt the realization hitting him and no longer found the sound of the ghost screaming in pain amusing. King flips through the channels on the ball trying to occupy himself from the thought. When nothing of interest was found, he shuts the artifact off completely.

“This wasn’t as fun as I thought…” King sighs, “I should’ve waited until nighttime to be mad at them, then I could’ve just sleep instead of confronting them. Ah, who am I kidding. I don’t want to stay mad at Luz. She’s probably as upset as I am about this fight… Guess I am just jealous of Amity for hogging her.”

But that changes now. King rises to his feet and raise his fist in the air, “Get ready for an apology of your lifetime, Luz! For this King is nothing without his people! And this decision has nothing to do with the fact that I didn’t grab enough food to eat before I ran in here!”

Kicking aside the piles of empty bags and candy wrappers, King marches his way to the kitchen door. Out in the yard, Eda is laying against her lawn chair sunbathing. She notices King by the sound of his tiny prints and speaks up without turning her head, “Someone’s full of energy. What’s got you riled up?”

“It’s called being a bigger demon!” King declares before opening the door and closing it behind him.

“… are we talking figuratively here?”

Inside, King carefully walks over to the living area where he last saw them but pauses at the sound of giggling. Confused, he creeps up to the doorway and leans out to see Amity and Luz huddled over a cast iron dutch oven placed in the middle of various roots, liquids, and gross animal parts.

“Now the trick here is you want to grate the griffin talons into the mix and stirk it counter-clockwise eight times,” instructed Amity.

Luz reads off a book labeled ‘Abominations for Dummies’ and calls for her, “Uh, Amity, I don’t mean to be a pest but it says here it should be sphinx talons and stirred clockwise six times.”

“That formula is just a basis for simpler creations,” Amity takes the book and closes it between her hand, “This is a concoction I created from years of experimenting. Allowing for stronger, faster, and more efficient Abominations. I don’t just share this with anyone, you know…”

“Wow,” Luz whistles, “So is this what they mean by friends with benefits?”

“What?” Amity flinches, “That’s not-no! Don’t ever say that again!”

“Sorry!”

“Now,” Amity continues and takes out a vial of clear liquid. “This solution here will cause a sudden reaction to the formula, bringing all the contents together and reviving it as a living being. Think of it as a trigger.”

“Ooh.” Luz stares at her reflection in the vial, “You know, I was kind of put off by how close this sounded to chemistry but it’s actually interesting! Do we just dump it in now?”

“Not yet,” Amity covers the pot with a lid and tucks the vial into her pocket, “We’ll need to let it rest for ten minutes first. Now remember, we’re testing a small version to minimize the mess and possible hazards. Do you know what that means?”

“I do!” Luz playfully shoots up her hand to answer, “It means we need to properly divide ingredients while maintaining a balanced ratio. Sort of like baking!”

Amity folds her arms and nods at her human, “That’s right. An imbalance ratio and different combinations could yield us an entirely different result. It could range from a mild mess to catastrophic levels.”

Luz wasn’t aware of that last part and gulps, “Oh… that’s comforting.”

“I wouldn’t worry, I been carefully documenting everything we thrown in. And you have been listening to me well,” Amity leans forward and suggestively smiles, “Guess you really are a good student.”

“Well…” Luz blushes, “I do have a good teacher…”

“Haha…” Everytime Amity feels like she has the confidence to tease her, all it would take is one thrown back and her defenses shatter like glass. She loses her grip on her mind and couldn’t stop herself from throwing a hasty reply, “And I got school to thank for that! Because… it’s where we learn…”

Luz giggles as Amity sandwiches her face between two couch pillows. King feels increasingly annoyed watching them playing around and enjoying themselves again without a thought for him.

“Guess we should take this time to clean up. We got all these bottles and whatnots just lying around. It’s a good thing we moved all those snacks away,” said Luz, before taking a bite of a chocolate bar she had laying at the edge of the table.

Amity glances over as she’s about to gather up the materials before noticing a distinct purple color on the bitten part of the candy she’s holding. “Luz! There’s Abomination gunk on your food!”

Luz stares down at the candy bar and notices the stain too, “Huh, guess that explains the tangy sensation on my tongue… am I going to die?”

“I-it’s probably fine,” Amity lies, as she hurriedly pulls Luz up the stairs to the bathroom. “We’ll just need to wash it out and cleanse your system before it starts burning a hole through your stomach lining.”

“WHAT!?”

Once the coast is clear, King walks in and inspects the lab before him. He lifts up the lid to peer inside and sees a bubbling matter of purple. “This is what they been up to?” King shakes his head and tosses the lid back on. “’Ooh, look at me! I’m a couple of teenagers who are in love~ I don’t care about how my buddy feels! I rather just make purple soup and awkwardly flirt with each other!’”

King lets out an irritated noise and thrashes his fists all around him. A scene that certainly looked like he was dangerously close to knocking any of the contents on the table, but he kept himself a measure distance away.

He kept going for a moment before running out on stamina and anger fuel. King pants and wipes the sweat from his skull head, missing the actual part that is sweat entirely, and stands tall. “Glad that’s out of my system. It’s a good thing I’m mindful of my surroundings so I can physically express my wrath with no fear of consequences.”

Dusting off his paws, King preps his legs and jumps onto the couch seat to wait for the girls to come down so he could apologize for his behavior. Which unfortunately, is higher than he expected since it was a new couch. He misses the spot entire and slides off the edge, slamming his body into the coffee table. Knocking all the bottles and even the pot to their sides.

King sits up and rubs his back before noticing all the spilled contents mixing with the purple substance Amity and Luz were making.

“Uh oh.”


	10. Fourth Day, Part 2

“Oh crud. Oh crud! Oh CRUD!” King hastily scoops up the Abomination concoction back into the pot. His eyes quickly dart to the stairs to watch out for either Amity or Luz to come down and see the mess he caused. Keeping his ears perked for any sounds from upstairs, King cleans up the spills before getting to the purple substance.

Fortunately for him, the abomination goop doesn’t stick to anything and easily slides off the surface of the table and even from the floor. He arranges the bottles back to their positions from what he could remember, and the other materials laid out too.

King lies out the area as exactly as it was. He couldn’t do anything about the chemicals and potions being smaller than before. He can only hope they won’t be able to notice.

But the real issue is where all those contents have ended up in. King nervously stares at the pot containing their project he had carelessly ruined. Remembering the warnings Amity had given to Luz, he wonders if he should just fess up now.

“Oh,” King groans at the dilemma, “Maybe it won’t be so bad! Abominations are just giant dumb creatures. Slaves without all the moral conflictions that makes it weird!” But even he couldn’t convince himself after seeing what they are capable of with a proper witch controlling them. What if it goes on a rampage? What if it attacks Luz and Amity?

But they’ll think he did it on purpose because of their fight. Who would believe him falling off the couch and bumping into the table as an excuse? Luz got really mad at him for snapping at Amity. How would she react to him ruining their project?

“No,” King shakes his head, “I should still tell her, this stuff could be dangerous. But… Amity did say it could just be a small mess too. If that’s the case, then they’ll just think they messed up and move on. Yeah, no harm in that. If something goes wrong, then I’ll just fess up! Haha… ha…”

He sighs and hunches over in defeat, “Some friend I am… I should just tell her…”

“King?” Luz’s voice calls from atop the stairs, “Is that you?”

The little demon panics and hurriedly scans around for the available exits. The kitchen can’t work. She might be able to see him. He can’t go out the front door either, she’ll hear Hooty hollering. The only solution he could decide on in the small window of time is to dive and squeeze underneath the couch.

Luz makes her way down expecting to see King waiting for her. She frowns, seeing the little guy nowhere in sight, but could have sworn she heard his voice. “Right…” Luz sighs, “Guess he’s still avoiding me…”

King stifles any noise from his mouth and carefully breathes through his nose. He watches Luz walking around the couch before sitting down at the spot right above him. The slight indent from the weight presses down on his back, but King silently takes the pressure without making a peep.

Luz felt the slight stiffness in the seat but shrugs it off, being a new couch and all. She glances back up the stairs knowing Amity still being up there taking a call from her family. Luz turns back at the table and rests her head onto her arm.

“Guess it’s just you and me then,” she said to the closed pot containing the Abomination, “Not that you’re alive since Amity has yet to drop that wake-up juice in you.”

King felt the pressure of her weight increasing as Luz tucks her legs to her chest. He lets out a silent gasp for air but still refuses to move or come out.

Luz sighs, unaware of her body weight pressing down on him. “I could really use someone to talk to though. I don’t want to bother Eda with this kind of stuff again and I don’t think King is still in a mood to talk… So far, things seem to be going great between me and Amity. Here we are. Talking about things, working together, and saying cute things like we’re flirting… _oh gosh we are flirting_.”

 _Please don’t tell me this is how I’m going out,_ King worryingly thinks to himself. Getting slowly crushed is bad enough on its own without the last thing he hears is someone’s lovelife.

“I wonder if it is okay with everyone though.” King lifts his head at that, ignoring the pressure on his back as Luz continues in a somber tone. “King doesn’t seem to care for Amity… I can’t entirely blame him, after what they went through. But it’s not her fault either, the more I know about her situation the more I feel bad for her. She has such a hard life compared to mine. I guess that’s why I’m so focus on making her happy. Seeing her smile gives me a feeling different from others’. I don’t know how to explain it… I guess it’s like some sort of joy of having people laughing at your joke, but it only matters to me if she’s laughing. As long as she’s happy, then I’m happy. And I really want to make her happy. Geez, just listen to me… I bet if someone was listening, they probably think how incredibly dumb it sounds.”

And to King, it was incredibly dumb. At first. Now, he’s silently trying to hold back his tears and not break into a sob. A demon who gets visibly disgusted by PDA but is a closet sucker for romance. King may not care much for Amity, but he never meant to go against Luz’s feelings. He should have learned his lesson from before with Willow and Gus and yet here he is hiding under the couch after possibly sabotaging their project. The guilt heavily weighs down on him like the pressure from the couch that is still squeezing down onto his spine.

“Are you still there, Luz?” Amity calls for her as she starts to make her way down the stairs.

Luz pulls herself out of the self-reflection moment she’s having and hops over the end of the couch, finally giving King a chance to properly breathe. “Present!” she calls back.

“Sorry, my twins called to give me a heads up about our parents, but they mostly used it as an opportunity to talk my ear off.” Amity leans over the couch and asks, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m good, thanks for saving my stomach,” Luz said while patting her belly.

“You should be more careful next time, if I hadn’t noticed-“ Amity pauses to look at the table, staring directly at the bottles and dry ingredients. Luz checks her gaze and asks, "Whats up?"

"Did you…?" She ponders for a moment, not wanting to come off accusing but it was too late to pull back. Amity asks, "Did you do anything before I came down?”

Luz doesn’t answer as she had just expressed her feelings about her to their yet-to-be-alive-abomination. She shakes her head and replies, “Nope! Just waiting for you!”

Amity caught the hesitation and feels her gut telling her that something is off this. But her heart is yelling over all thoughts in her head to shut up and sit down with your human girlfriend. Shaking away her doubts, Amity comes around the couch and sat down on the same spot King is under.

“Nevermind then. Now, Luz Noceda, are you ready to have your very own Abomination?” Amity asks, pulling out the solution vial from her pocket.

“Am I!” Luz beams. “The concoction needs something from an owner to have the Abomination be connected to them, right? Do I have to slice my hand and offer it my blood?”

“What!?” Amity stares incredulously at her for that suggestion, “No! No, of course not! Any DNA sample like a strand of hair or spit is good enough. W-why would you even suggest that?”

Luz pulls up her cat hoodie and blushes, “You know… just like the books when they use dark magic or do it to look cool… yeah it doesn’t sound practical out loud, does it?”

“I assure you Abomination Magic is nothing like that.” Amity shakes her head and chuckles, “Also, I hate to disappoint you, but the connection can only be established with those who have a magic bile sack. And since your human, the Abomination won’t likely to listen you.”

“Oh…”

“But,” Amity raises a finger, “I was aware of that and tailored the formula to create an Abomination that can take orders from anyone. It won’t be anywhere near intelligent as the usual ones, but it should suffice for your project. Sorry I can’t do anymore for you. I know that must be disappointing to hear.”

Luz shrugs, “Well, how can I be sad when I have a girlfriend helping me with my homework?”

Amity’s brain shuts off at the word. Her muscles seized control of her body and suspends it from all animation. Her lips parted to barely breathe out, “G-g-girl…?”

“Perdonar! Was that too soon to say?” Luz exclaims.

“I-I don’t know! Maybe? I-!” Amity tightens her grip on the solution and faces the pot, “I think we’re stalling long enough! Let’s wake this little guy up now!”

Luz watches as Amity quickly pulls the lid, pour in the solution, then slams it back down. She jumps as the lid nearly pops off from the chemical (magical?) combustion that is still sealed by Amity’s hand who seems unfazed by the reaction.

Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, either for dramatic effect or to calm her nerves, she turns to Luz and proudly crosses her arms. “And now, behold. Your very own creation.” She raises her arms and claps her hands with command, “Abomination, rise.”

Luz waits with bated breath as her eyes glued themselves onto the pot, expecting to see a smaller version of the purple golem to climb out and strike a pose.

But nothing happens.

Luz’s eagerness slowly fades to concern before shooting a look back at Amity who opened her eyes to see the pot still closed. She awkwardly looks at Luz and clears her throat, “Ahem, must have… not said it loud enough…”

Luz offers a reassuring smile as Amity preps herself for dramatic tension with the clapping of hands again. “Abomination,” she says more sternly, “Rise _.”_

Still nothing.

“Abomination, rise.”

Nothing.

“Abomination. _Rise.”_

Nope.

“Abomination!” Amity turns to the pot, now yelling. “Rise!”

You get the idea.

“Quit embarrassing me and rise, you stupid slop!” Amity takes the pot and shakes it with her hand before the lid tumbles down with a loud clang. When her eyes fell into the inside of the pot, she froze. Luz hastily moves over and peers over her shoulder to see what made her stop.

The only thing they both could see, is a broth of purple substance with bits and pieces.

“Hey, this is like what my mother described grandpa’s beef stew as,” Luz jokes.

The humor hasn’t touched Amity as she is taken back from the sight. “This can’t be…” she mutters, “We done everything right. It should have taken form and rise on my command.”

“Maybe it just didn’t work?” Luz shrugs.

Amity lowers the pot to the table and frowns, “Abomination Alchemy doesn’t decide to ‘not work,’ Luz, it’s a result of cause and effect. If it’s not responding, then something must have went wrong.”

“But we did everything you say,” Luz reminds her, “You even wrote the steps we took down on that sheet there.” Amity nods and takes the said papers in her hand and carefully goes through them.

Luz looks at the table and notice her chocolate bar sitting on its spot, still containing a sample of Abomination gunk she had accidentally ingested. She takes the candy and breaks off the contaminated piece, but still wonders if the rest is even salvageable.

Luz turns her head to ask Amity if it was okay but notices the pot nudging forward. “Uh… Amity?” she says.

“Yes, Luz?” Amity replies without taking her eyes off the paper. She felt a finger tapping on her shoulder and she turns to find the Abomination slime crawling out of the pot. The purple mass has no structure, no limbs, not even eyes or a mouth. It lurches forward, causing the pot to lean a bit before spilling it out entirely.

Luz doesn’t seem bothered by it as much as Amity, she’s rather thrilled about it. “It’s… alive?” Amity questioned.

“It’s aliiiive!” Luz repeated, dramatically. The two girls lower their heads to get a closer look at the slime. It doesn’t seem to take notice of them and keeps moving forward. Luz admittedly couldn’t maintain her excitement as she had expected an Abomination but one with a body and all.

“This doesn’t make sense,” exclaimed Amity, “My formula should have conceived a proper Abomination.”

“Well, we got one,” Luz noted. She glances at Amity with wonder in her eyes and asks, “Are we parents now?”

“Don’t be weird, Luz.”

“Imma name it Geoffrey.”

“And you’re being weird.”

“But you like me being weird!” Amity can’t argue with that, but her mind is too focused on how the experiment ended up like this.

“Amity, look!” Luz pulls her attention back to the slime. It stretches out one part of its mass forward like a tendril towards the piece of chocolate Luz broke off early and drags it towards itself. Amity watches with wide eyes as the slime assimilates the candy into its mass, making various sounds that could barely be described by words.

“Did it just… _eat_?”

“Wow,” Luz commented, “Thought Abominations don’t need to eat.”

“They don’t!” Amity bolts up to her feet and conjures a glyph in her hand. Flames burst from her palm, casting a rather scary glow on her face. “That _thing_ is not an Abomination! It’s… well, I guess an abomination in a different term but not the one that’s… i-it’s a failure! Okay! We need to get rid of it!”

Luz dives in between them and shields the slime, “No! You can’t destroy Geoffrey for being a failure! What would you have done if other people called me a failure? Would you let them destroy me?”

“First off, you’re not a failure and you tell me the names of whoever called you that and I’ll make them pay. Second, stop calling it that! It’s a school project that gone wrong. It’s not a baby!”

“But he’s _our_ baby!” Luz whimpers, pulling the slime in for a hug.

The old Amity would have just pushed her aside and incinerate that being from existence before it could potentially cause any harm. But that old Amity fell in love with this dumb girl who is staring up at her with puppy dog eyes. The flame dies out in her hand as her cheeks go red like they had absorbed all the heat from it. Amity sighs and says, “Fine, but if it does anything out of line, I’m burning it. I’ll go back and check over our notes and see if we missed something.”

“You’re the best!” Luz responded before dropping Geoffrey back onto the table. Its body flattens out from the impact like a plastic bag filled with water, before slowly forming back up in its softball sized form.

“Hi, little Geoffrey!” Luz waves at the slime, “Welcome to life. I bet you’re real hungry since you were literally born just minutes ago, aren’t you? Arentchu?” Amity rolls her eyes with a hint of a smile before resuming back to her notes.

Luz takes a bag of sea salt chips and fishes one out for the slime. She drops it next to Geoffrey and watches it curiously leaning towards the snack. It stretches out a tendril but the moment it makes contact, it recoils and scoots back.

“Oh?” Luz flicks the chips to the floor, just in front of King who quickly snatches it before anyone notices it. “Guess you’re not a fan of salty snacks? You’re more of a sweet tooth, aren’t you little guy?”

“Luz, until we know for certain what this thing is, I advise against feeding it,” cautioned Amity. She tosses the papers aside, now confirming they had taken all the necessary steps to the formula that should have resulted in a proper Abomination. Something else must have happened without her knowledge. But what?

Amity scans the work area again. Glossing her eyes over the papers, the snacks isolated one end, Luz’s drawings of a ridiculously buffed Abomination carrying them two, until it lingers onto the materials where she had noticed something strange about them.

From underneath the couch, King could see where her gaze is attracted too and felt the anxiety building in his chest. But what comes next was much worse than he had expected.

“Okay,” Amity mildly smiles and crosses her arms to Luz, “The jig is up.”

“Who’s a jig?” Luz replies as she accidentally drops the entire candy bar to Geoffrey. King watches the candy bar slowly sinking into it as it ‘devours’ the entire bar. The slime gurgles and shudders before expanding its mass. _Growing._ It idles for a moment before starting to make its way off the table with neither of the girls noticing.

“Did you tamper with our project while I was still upstairs, Luz?” Amity asks.

Luz frowns at the question and shook her head, “No, why would you think that?” King watches Geoffrey fall off the table without either of the girls noticing. He worriedly looks to the girls then back at the slime that’s now making its way to the kitchen.

“Come on, Luz. You think I wouldn’t notice how our leftover materials seem to have gotten smaller the last time I was here?” Amity pointed out, “I’m not mad, this is the type of thing you’d like to do. You obviously were curious of what would happen if you experimented a little and did it without me knowing. I’m not mad. But we do need to restart from scratch again for your paper.”

Luz couldn’t tell if this was an elaborate joke or if she was being serious. She hadn’t noticed the materials at all, it seemed fine to her. “Amity, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t mess with anything.”

“Well, who could have messed with it then?” Amity pressed.

“Not anyone who lives here, that’s for sure.”

“Not even Hooty?”

“He doesn’t even have hands!”

“Fair point,” Amity frowns, not liking where this is going. Luz was the last one to be down here, but they were both gone for a moment. The only people not accounted for is King and Eda. Eda likes to act mischievous from time to time. It’s hard to believe an adult would mess with a kid’s project, but she does have a distaste for homework. Not a solid story, but it’s something. King on the other hand-

“Maybe it’s the formula?”

Amity’s train of thought went off the rails by what Luz had said, “Excuse me?”

“You said you changed the formula so I would be able to use it,” Luz suggested, “Maybe that’s the problem?”

“You’re saying it’s _my_ fault?”

“No!” Luz exclaims, “I’m not saying you did it on purpose! Just that maybe, you know, you might have… made a mistake?”

“ _A mistake?_ ” Amity snaps, “Luz, I didn’t make this off the top of my head. This formula is from years of research, experimenting, and trial and error. I’m the star student of the Abomination Track. How could you suggest this is even my fault?”

“Again, I’m not saying it’s your fault! People tend to make mistakes!”

“I don’t!”

This was taking a turn for the worse. King keeps eyeing the kitchen where the slime had disappeared to and back at the girls. He’s not sure if he could slip out from underneath without them noticing but hearing them fight and not knowing what Geoffrey is up is almost enough to make him break. Almost.

King looks around for whatever he could use to draw their attention. He closes his eyes and takes a count of three before jerking his skull head against the bottom of the couch.

The noise was enough to catch their attention with Amity asking, “What was that?” She looks down at the table and found Geoffrey missing. “Luz!” she shouts, “Where is that thing?”

“You mean Geoffrey?”

“I am not calling it that. Now where did it go?”

“I don’t know-wait, quiet for a minute.” They both noticed faint sounds coming from the kitchen and decide to go check it out. The moment they left, King crawls out from under the couch with an aching back. “Ugh… finally… we seriously need to vacuum under the furniture more often.”

“Geoffrey? Are you in here, little guy?” Luz checks to ask before the step inside the kitchen. Amity grabs Luz by the arm and pulls her back as a frying pan whizzes through the air along with various utensils and kitchenware. They lean their heads over to see Geoffrey with food scattered all over the floor. But it wasn’t the mess that caught them off guard, it is the abomination slime that has somehow grown nearly five times its previous size.

“Did it just grow!?” Amity exclaims.

“Amity, look!” Luz points out the creature taking the Gumbo pot into its body. It shudders for a moment before it noticeably expands its mass before scavenging through more food.

“It’s eating all the food…”

“Oh, Eda is not going to like this,” Luz shudders. She watches it pulling the various roots and herbs hanging from the ceiling, “If Abominations don’t need to eat, then what is it doing?”

“I think it’s… breaking the organics down into basic matter to sustain its form. Abominations wouldn’t have a reason to do that, let alone act on instincts. Luz, I seriously think we just created something new.”

“Aw, so you’re saying Geoffrey isn’t a failure but our special little guy?” Luz is lucky she’s cute, otherwise Amity would have hit her. This creature may not be classified as an Abomination, but it was made the same as them. Perhaps it could still be able to follow orders?

Luz seem to have the same idea as she tries to approach the creature, but Amity blocks the path with her arm. “Don’t go near it! We don’t know what it’s entirely capable of!” she warns.

“But you said the formula should let it be able to listen to anyone, right? Maybe all Geoffrey needs is someone to calm it down. It’s probably just scared and confused since we literally birthed it a few minutes ago.”

True, it should allow the creature to obey anyone’s command. But with it being obviously altered somehow, Amity isn’t sure if that’s still a possibility. “I don’t know, it’s too risky.”

Luz cups her hands together and leans to her, “Aw, are you feeling protective over your new girlfriend?”

“Ei!?” Amity physically took the blow from that word. Luz took the moment to duck under her arm and chimes, “Yoop!” as she passes through to approach their slime. King peeks out from the kitchen doorway and bites on his paws as she gets closer to the strange thing.

“Hey there, Geoffrey.” Luz cautiously walks up to the blob spitting out the emptied pot of Gumbo. Geoffrey stops and lurches the top part of its mass towards her, being devoid of all facial features but seem to be looking at her now.

Luz calmly clears her throat, “Look, I know you must be scared and have a lot of questions. Believe it or not I was the same way when I first came to this world. And yeah, it’s terrifying. Smelly. And… really, really dangerous. But you’ll find no better place than to call home. And in this home, we have rules to ensure everyone here lives happily together. Like, don’t eat all the food in the house or else Eda will get mad and probably obliterate you. But you didn’t know, so it’s okay! Trust in me, Geoffrey. I’ll do whatever I can to make you feel welcomed.”

Geoffrey stayed still throughout her speech as if it was listening to her. Luz opened her arms and slowly comes closer for a hug, which made King and Amity about to call her name but notice the slime calmly spreads itself to mimic her gesture. She squeals with delight as she embraces Geoffrey with her arms sinking into its form.

“Aww, look at him, Amity! He’s hugging me back! And he’s surprisingly warm,” Luz noted, “Really warm… and warmer. Oh, now it feels kind of hot… ow, ow, ow, OW, OW! IT’S BURNING ME! I CAN’T LET GO!”

“Abomination!” Amity summons her golem and commands it to pull Luz away from the slime. Geoffrey retaliates by lunging at the Abomination and absorbs it whole. It’s body shudders before growing exponentially from its new meal.

Amity grits her teeth but rushes over to Luz to check on her. “Are you okay?” she asks before holding up her arms, revealing signs of irritation of the skin that could be caused by mild burns.

Luz blows on them to cool off the sensation and weakly chuckles, “Sort of… you know, I never did think what it must feel like to be digested by something. Now I do and I’m beyond terrified.”

“Luz!” King couldn’t bear to watch anymore and runs over to them. Luz was surprised by his appearance but gratefully catches him in a hug when he jumps on her. Causing the irritation on her arms to act up again.

“Oh, this hurts but I’m so happy to see you!” Luz cries.

Amity frowns at the slime and whips up a ball of flame in her hands. “I’ll take it we’re done with whatever this is so we can finally start over on our assignment?” She glances over to Luz for confirmation and receives a whimpering nod in return.

Without hesitation, Amity lobs her fireball directly at Geoffrey. But the slime reacts quick by leaping back, blasting a scorch mark into the kitchen floor. Amity gasps from the unexpected maneuver it made and notice it rearing back as it’s about to launch.

“Get down!” Amity exclaims as she pulls Luz and King down as Geoffrey lunges forward. She conjures a large abomination hand to shield them from the impact. Luz follows up by carving a rune into the abomination hand and slams her palm against it. The gunk from the hand freezes over and travels through contact to Geoffrey. The sentient slime couldn’t do anything as its entire form is crystallized.

The group all let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the creature unable to move now. Amity pulls away and thoughtfully grasps Luz’s hand, “Once again, you do something insanely dumb but manage to pull off an impressive trick.” Luz grins at the praise but it quickly dies the moment Amity’s frown appears. “I told you we should’ve destroyed it,” she scolded, “You saw how quickly that thing can digest! What if I couldn’t get you out in time?”

“You were right, I’m sorry!” Luz waves her hands, mostly to cool off her hot skin. “I can get pretty sentimental, I guess. It’s a shame it had to come down to this but I’m glad everyone is okay.” She gives King another hug and buries her face into his fur, “Especially you. I’m so happy you came back. I’m sorry you had to see that though. It must have been a nasty surprise, huh?”

“HAHA!” King’s not so subtle laugh causes the girls to nearly jump out of their skin, “Yup! What a surprise that was! Since I just walked in to apologize and not, you know, been hiding somewhere. This entire time. At all.”

“… okay?” Luz wasn’t sure what to make of that but she’s happy enough to know they are past their fight from earlier.

Amity paid no mind to what King said as she is entranced by the strange creature that came from their abomination experiment. She walks over to the right at the frozen statue of the blob that tries to devour them. “We all saw what it did. It dodged my spell and immediately went for me. This thing is clearly intelligent. Way beyond the type of Abomination that was _supposed_ to be.”

“Does this type of stuff usually happen in Abomination making?” Luz asks.

“I heard reports, but they all are only done through accidents or miscalculations. But I checked through our test logs and I recall us doing everything right. It shouldn’t have created… this.” She turns to Luz and King with folded arms, “It can only mean that something happened to that concoction without my knowledge.”

“Your knowledge?” Luz noticed.

“Luz, I admit I must be rash in accusing you. But if it’s not you, then it would have to be either King or Eda.” Amity glances at King who quivers before her eyes, “You just came in but you didn’t seem surprised to see the creature…”

“R-really?” King nervously swallows, “W-well that’s because-“

“Now hold on a minute!” Luz interjects, “You’re not implying that King ruined our project, are you?”

“It has to be someone in this house, I was upstairs helping you expel that chocolate bar before I received a call. It can’t be me. You and King did have a fight-“

Luz gasps at the suggestion, “King would never do something like that to us! He’s a very good boy!”

King tries to intervene with, “Uh, Luz I-“

“And I don’t appreciate you accusing everyone just because you don’t believe you could have made an error on your part!”

“Are you seriously back to this?” Amity snaps back at her then points at herself, “Star. Student! Does that mean anything to you? Did you forget how I was the only one who knew right away that you weren’t an Abomination when you snuck into our school?”

Luz didn’t like the memory that came with it, how she nearly trashed the school and got banned for it. She wasn’t aware she had already parted her mouth to retort with, “I remember you picking on Willow…”

Amity visibly flinches from that as Luz heard the words herself and covers her mouth. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t mean that! I’m sorry-“

“Ugh! You are unbelievable!”

“Amity?”

“I know it was you, Luz!” Amity shouts, “You came downstairs before me. You were really excited to have your own Abomination and tried to play dumb when I asked you what you were doing while waiting.”

“I’m telling you. I didn’t do anything!”

“You hesitated before! If you weren’t messing with our project, then what were you doing while I was busy?”

It was about how worried she is for Amity. How she wants to make her happy. And how much joy it brings her to see her smile. But being accused by her in this heated argument infuriates Luz so much that she couldn’t bring herself to tell the truth. Instead, she folds her arms and said, “Just you… you know… stuff?”

Amity obviously did not buy that, “Gee, real convincing.”

King’s paws were pressing so hard into his cheeks he was almost ready to cut them. His eyes idly wander as the two continue their argument before it noticed the ice statue. “Uh, guys?” he mutters.

“Not now, King,” Luz replies before continuing with, “Why can’t you just trust me?”

“How can I trust you when you’re obviously withholding something from me?”

“Maybe I don’t feel like sharing it with you, is that wrong?”

“When something like this just happened, I say it is wrong!”

“Guys!”

“What!?” Their eyes turn to King who points at the section of the ice statue. A section with a hollowed-out cavity emitting acidic fumes at the edges. Geoffrey has escaped.

“Wha-where is it now?” Amity shouted as Luz turns her gaze to the ceiling. She tugs on Amity’s shirt for her attention and points up. Where the devouring slime is hanging from, ready to drop on them.

“Run!” King cries as they all dive out of the way the moment Geoffrey dislodges above them. The slime splats down but jumps up in a ball-like state and bounces towards the livingroom. Amity looks up to see Geoffrey heading towards the front door. “It’s trying to get away!”

Outside, and completely unaware of the events that were happening, Hooty is singing. “Straight hair! Straight A’s, straight forward! Straight-“ His song stops as the slime expands through every crevice of the door, with some coming forcefully emerging from his mouth and nose. Hooty gargles a horrified scream as Geoffrey spills out from him before it comes together in one form and resumed escaping.

Hooty coughs and sneezes, feeling the horrid sensation and bits of slime residue in his nasal cavity and mouth. He spits out the remaining Geoffrey bits and smacks his lips.

“… Straight path! I don’t cut corners~ I make a point to be on-OW!” His song cuts off again as the trio swings his face into the wall as they continue their chase after Geoffrey.

“We need to stop that thing before it gets to town!” Luz warns them, “Hopefully, Eda can-“

Everyone stops and stares at Geoffrey suspended in the air with a yellow dome wrapped around him. They turn their heads to the sound of Eda casually sipping from her glass of lemonade in one hand while the other is keeping the magical telekinetic beam trained on it.

“So,” Eda says while readjusting her sunglasses and stretches her legs before getting off the lawn chair, “Couldn’t go one day without an incident, huh?”

“Oh thank goodness, I didn’t feel like running today,” Luz sighs in relief.

While keeping the slime at bay with her spell, the girls explains to Eda about what happened inside. From the moment it was born to the discovery of its non-abomination behavior. Eda was definitely not happy to know her pantry has been raided.

“I recall giving you girls all the proper stuff to make an Abomination,” Eda explains, “How the heck did you end up with this thing?”

Amity and Luz glances at each other, both still a little heated from their earlier spat. But neither of them wanted to continue it either. Turning their gazes away from each other Amity steps up to answer, “We… we don’t know exactly. Something went wrong, and we just want this over with.”

Eda raises an eyebrow at the two girls who were just fawning over each other this morning that are now standing a bit too far apart and uncharacteristically quiet. She shrugs and comments, “Huh, if you say so. Still strange it turned out this way. I thought Abomination was your whole thing.”

Eda failed to see King gesturing at her to stop talking as it sets off Amity again with her stating, “It would have been fine if _someone_ had left it alone!”

“Nobody touched the stupid thing, Amity!”

“Oh, so now you think it’s stupid!?”

“You know what I mean!”

“Alright, cut it out!” Eda sticks her staff between them to interrupt the fight, “Honestly, there are times when I forget you two are kids and then you go right back to reminding me. I don’t care _who_ did it, because I’m blaming all of you. You all should have been more careful with your experiment and you should have come to me the first thing something went wrong. But that can all wait. First, we need to put this slimeball on ice.”

“What like a giant refrigerator or something?” Luz asks, clearly not getting the metaphor.

“Can’t tell if you’re being smart or cute.” Eda shrugs it off and summons her staff before moving Geoffrey to the center of the open area facing away from the house. She breaks the orange tendril connecting to the sphere still holding Geoffrey in stasis. Eda spins the staff between her hands before pointing it at the slime with Owlbert’s eyes glowing with magical energy.

“This is for wasting my food stamps, you overgrown pudding!”

“Wait!” Luz grabs onto Eda’s arm to stop her. Amity was about to scold her for trying to save that creature before Luz says, “No, Eda. Geoffrey’s my creation… I’ll do it.”

“Of course, you gave it a name…” The Owl Lady shrugs and tosses the staff to Luz who fumbles with it before getting a proper grip. “Alright, knock yourself out. Owlbert’s all amped up so just point at the slime and give it a little jab. Guess today is the moment the student has become the master. And what a better way to showcase that than to end the life of a living being.”

Luz walks up closer to the contained slime and watches it sloshes around the orb, unable to find a way to escape. “Hey, buddy… I’m sorry it has to come to this, but you did try to eat me. And now me and Amity are fighting because of you. It’s not your fault… I think? But you’ll always be my first abomination, and I’ll be sure to remember you. As you’ll likely appear in my nightmares trying to eat me alive. Goodbye.”

Following Eda’s instruction, Luz jabs the staff forward signaling Owlbert to unleash the stored power within. He spread his wings as yellow bolts of lightning crackles arounds him. Magic swirls in front of his of his beak and with a mighty “Hoot!” the channeled energy bursts forward with a form of an owl diving directly at Geoffrey.

Luz falls back from the blast as the magic collides with the barrier, breaking through it with a sound similar to the shattering of glass. The destructive energy combusts, covering the area with ash, smoke, and debris. Amity rushes over to help Luz up as Eda calmly strides closer to check on the damage.

“Bet that felt good, huh?” Eda asks.

Luz’s arms are still shaking as she hands the staff back to Eda and weakly chuckles, “Haha… I keep forgetting how powerful you are…”

“Then let this one be a reminder. Now, let’s get inside and clean up whatever mess that thing caused and order some pizza-!“ Eda gets knocked off of her feet by a fast moving tendril whipping her in the chest. Everyone screams her name as she tumbles and crashes into the trees.

Luz turns around to see Geoffrey, not only completely unharmed by the spell but is even bigger than before. Amity cautiously pulls Luz back and stammers, “D-did it just… _ate_ the spell!?”

King gulps and hides behind Luz’s leg, “Are we going to die?”

“I think we’re most likely going to die,” Luz replies in a shellshocked expression.

“Hooty to the rescue!” Hooty springs into action and charges at the slime. He tries to wrap himself around Geoffrey but acidity from its body burns the moment he makes contact. Geoffrey slams itself against Hooty and grabs him by the neck with it appendages and pulls.

“Hoot! Hoot!” he exclaims in pain by the burning acid and the forceful pull of his neck. The trio tries to help by pulling away by his elongated neck, but their strength proved fruitless as Hooty’s door is ripped from its henges, knocking the group to the ground.

Geoffrey pulls Hooty into itself to consume it, but it rears back as if it tasted something horrible. It tosses Hooty away to the side, who hoots sadly realizing he just got rejected. Fortunately, the slime appears less interested in attacking the rest of the group as it turns and bounces away.

But the bad news? It seems to be heading straight to town. No one could do anything know realizing what it’s capable of except to go and help Eda.

“Ohhh…” Eda groans as the others ran over to help her out of the shattered tree, with thankfully no noticeable injuries except a killer everything-ache.

“Eda! Are you okay?” Luz asks. Owlbert detaches himself from the staff and flies to her shoulder to give her a comforting nuzzle.

“I think so… ugh, dang creature snuck one on me while I was distracted. I’d be livid if I wasn’t a fan of such dirty tactics myself,” coughed Eda, scratching her little companion under the chin.

Amity growls in frustration and glares at Luz, “This is just great! Not only do we have an all-devouring abomination, but it turns out to be able to absorb magic! Do you have any idea the amount of damage that thing could cause once it reaches town?”

“Amity, I know you think I messed with our project, but I would never intentionally do something that could put someone in harm.”

“I’m not saying you did it on purpose, Luz. That’s not the issue here. The issue is-“ Amity stops her, still remembering the rampaging slime getting further and further away. “Nevermind, we can discuss this later. We need to stop that thing before it hurts anyone else.”

Luz nods and helps Eda up to her feet, “Are you okay? Do you need anything? A glass of water or something?”

“Don’t treat me like an old woman!” Eda remarks before feeling another surge of pain coursing through her sides, “Ooh! But uh… just give me a few minutes to recover, I’ll catch up with you girls later. Now go on, every second that passes is another step for that slime.”

They both nod before exchanging looks at each other. Both feeling upset for being in this fight with each other but knows they can’t let that thing cause any harm to anyone. As they ran off, King goes to follow them, but his feet caught air as Eda hooks her staff under his collar and lifts him up.

“And just where do you think you’re going, troublemaker?” Eda swings him around and drops him behind her.

“Troublemaker?” King panics at the word and tries to laugh it off, which only just made it even more suspicious if anything. “Who? _Me_? Oh, Eda, what could you possibly even mean by that? I haven’t done anything.”

“Exactly,” Eda frowns, “You seem oddly quiet and really fidgety for someone who hasn’t done anything wrong. Yet you seemed the most bothered when Amity and Luz were fighting back there.”

“That’s… cause… you know, fighting is…?”

Eda raises an eyebrow, silently asking him _‘You wanna try that again?’_ King fumbles with his words searching for an excuse but the overwhelming guilt prevails. “Okay! I admit! I sabotaged their project!” He then quickly adds, “By accident!”

“Huh, so plot B is actually a plot A. _A_ real pain in my rear that is!” Eda bops him on the skull with her stick, “So let me get this straight, you ruined their project and helped bring that monster to life. And you chose to lie about it?”

“I didn’t want to!” King desperately explains, “We… we had a fight, and I was afraid they’d believe I did it on purpose if I told them!”

A fight? Eda honestly could not believe the amount of mess that was going on while she was trying to catch a few suns. How did they get from brain spiders to this? She rubs the bridge between her eyes and sighs wearily, “So you chose to let the girls blame each other for it instead of owning up to your actions. Great plan there, _jelly baby_.”

“No! Don’t call me that!” King cries, “Jelly baby is worse than jelly boy!”

“Too late, I’m officially demoting you from King!” Eda snaps, “Because of you, those lovebirds are at each other’s throats.”

King nervously taps his claws together. He couldn’t have predicted them to turn on each other just because he fell off his couch. He didn’t like seeing Luz or Amity being that angry with each other. But still, he mutters, “S-so? They like each other, don’t they? Couples fight all the time, right?”

“King, let me give you a little lesson about teenage love.” Eda taps the ground with her stick and draws in the dirt as she explains, “You have two highly emotionally-unstable girls just starting their relationship. Sure, they’re head over heels for each other but with love comes anxiety. And with anxiety comes fear. Sadness. _Anger_. Normally, given time and room to talk, they can keep those emotions under control. But you give them a reason to fight? They’ll fight. And anger is a type of emotion that can easily draw out the worse out of you. Words they don’t mean to say will be thrown, ugly side of them gets exposed, and doubts start forming in their heads. Any couple can recover from a nasty fight, but what do you think will happen when they keep accusing each other for something that _you_ did?”

King clutches his head in horror, “You’re saying they could break up because of me!?” He didn’t mean to let things get this far. But he couldn’t bear to imagine what Luz or Amity will say to him now after letting them fight. If he doesn’t tell them, things could get worse. If he does, Luz could hate him.

His eyes went to the ground where Eda carved and frowns, “So where does the tic tac toe game fit into all of this?”

“It doesn’t, I hate doing nothing while giving lectures.” Eda taps her staff to signal Owlbert to return to the pedestal. She hops onto the staff and floats in the air before looking down at King to ask, “So are you going to be the bigger demon or are you going to sacrifice Luz’s chance of happiness?”

Her happiness… King should have realized it sooner. Luz always goes along with his antics and lovingly plays with him. She always tries her best to make him happy. And what is he doing for her in return?

He didn’t care for Amity, but he should have made an effort like he did with Willow and Gus. She did seem sorry about their first meeting and for letting the spiders get into his head. And she does genuinely care for Luz.

“Come on, King!” Hooty calls to him from the ground, “Do the right thing!”

“Hooty, do you even know what we’re talking about?” asked Eda.

He smiles proudly, “Nope!”

“You’re right, I need to make it up to them! This is my mess, and I am going to fix it!” King runs off to follow the girls. Eda frowns and folds her arms as he disappears into the path. After a few seconds, he quietly returns and sheepishly looks up at her. “I, uh… I forgot you can fly… you mind… giving me a lift? Hehe…”

Eda sighs, “Anything for my jelly baby…” She telekinetically lifts King up to her staff and takes off but not without calling to Hooty, “We’ll be gone for a bit, Hooty, so keep watch of the house!”

“Can do!” Hooty responds and watches them disappear. He slumps his head back down, unable to pick himself up or do anything about his being ripped out of the house.

“Man… I am in so much pain right now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
> 
> Next chapter will be uploaded within next week!


	11. Fourth Day, Part 3

Luz and Amity finally makes it to town and stops for a brief moment to catch their breaths. "Oh man… why did we… ran all the way here…?" Luz wheezes, "My nerd legs are killing me…"

Amity ceases her own panting and wipes the sweat from her forehead, "We can't idle now. Look!" She gestures the surrounding area, "There's no one in sight, Geoffrey-I mean that stupid slime must have passed through!"

"But what can we do even if we do find it? Eda's the most powerful witch I seen. How can we beat something that can absorb all types of magic?"

"Not all magic…" A memory pops in Amity's head as she turns to Luz, "You were able to freeze it back there with that rune of yours. Maybe your fire rune can harm it. Do you still have your papers with you?"

Luz digs into her pockets for her paper runes but discovers she must have left them behind. Amity watches her pull out her pockets to show and sighs, "Guess you'll have to do what you do best then."

Luz blinks, "Like what?"

"You know, improvise?" Amity explains, "You always find a solution in the thickest moments. Now is going to be the best time for that." It was a touching praise, but her tone had an edge to it.

Luz still feels bitter about their fight but the longer the tension sits between them the more regretful she is that it had ended up this way. The moment they had spending the morning working on the assignments together felt like it happened weeks ago. Why can't they go back to that?

"Amity," Luz hesitantly spoke out and timidly asks, "You don't still think I did it? Do you?"

"Now's not the time, Luz."

"I don't want us to fight-"

"I don't either!" Amity cries out, "I don't want to believe it's you. I could accept you messed with our project, but I can't accept being lied to about it!"

"I'm not lying to you!"

"Our project was obviously sabotaged, Luz! Yet you keep assuming I made an error!" Amity snaps, "I wanted nothing more than to do this project with you. I made this formula a while ago knowing you couldn't properly control an Abomination. I want us to be in the same class and have you pick up the same interests as me! And this is how you repay me?"

Luz clenches her fists, not able to stop the emotions from rising. With closed eyes and no control over her words, she shouts back. "I never asked for you to do any of that!"

That hits Amity way close to home. Her lips tremble and her eyes sting like they're ready to burst. There are many things she's ready to say to her, but a well-timed scream cuts through the dense silence. They both remembered what they came here to do and said nothing to each other as they both ran to the direction where the scream is coming from.

"Out! Get out!" shouted the old man who is currently whacking Geoffrey with a stick as it devours the sweets from the man's candy stand. "I ain't giving you no sugar! Now out!"

"Get away from that thing!" Amity shouts to the man as she enters the scene.

"And let him eat all of my supplies!?" the man shouts back. He holds the stick up again and brings it down with all of his might. Only for the slime to extend an arm to catch the stick and crushes it.

The old man looks at the broken end of his stick with the acidic fumes emitting from the splinters. He looks to Amity and says, "On second thought, it's on the house." He jumps away and runs off, screaming for his life.

Luz catches up with Amity and stares at the slime, slowly growing little by little as it feasts on the candies. "It could've eaten the old man, but it was going directly for his sweets," Amity noticed.

"Geoffrey does have a sweet tooth." Luz watches Geoffrey breaking through the shelves, spilling more candy all over the ground. Amity shields herself from the stray pieces as Luz blocks it with her hoodie. She takes note of how focused the thing is, trying to devour as much sweets as it can. The way it abandoned all awareness and ignored the man gave Luz an idea. Perhaps she could-

"You kids! Stand back!" An authoritative voice boom from behind them. They both spun around to see two men adorning white cowls and gray bird masks. Amity gasps and immediately assumed a respectful bow to them.

"The Emperor's Guards!" Amity announces, "Luz, get down!"

"Oh… okay," Luz obeys and assumes the same stance but in a rather unscrupulous form with her legs stretched out and her two arms facing one direction in front of her face. Amity shakes her head.

"Huh, wasn't expecting that. Usually, teenagers would either run or call us some unsavory names." One of the guards said while adjusting his cowl, "That's nice. Anyways, we received reports of a wild Abomination-like thing rampaging through the city. We assume it's that thing right behind you?"

Luz nods, "Yup, big ol' Geo-"

Amity cuts her by pulling on her hoodie strings, shrinking her face down with it. "Yes, sirs. We were just uh… on a d-d-" she stutters, almost admitting to two strangers about their relationship. Either embarrassed to confess or to even suggest an idea. Regardless, Amity quickly blurts, "Dare! To uh… get as close as we can! Because, you know, us teenagers… like to do dumb things… hehe…"

The other guard nods and gives them a thumbs up while the first shakes his head, "You kids and your total lack of respect for your own lives. Well knock it off, we're here to dispose this thing and find out where its creator is. Since we just got to the scene, do you girls happen to know anything about this creature?"

"It's immune to magic," Amity explains, "We don't know why it keeps eating but I think it's trying to sustain itself with whatever organics it can find."

The guard nods thoughtfully, "Hmm, I see… and what about where it came from? Do you know anything about that?"

Luz and Amity looks at each other, then to Geoffrey, back to each other, and then finally at the guards.

"Nope."

"No, sir."

"Nada."

"Don't know a thing."

"Are you sure?" inquired the other guard, "You both seem to know a lot about-"

"Hey!" The first one jabs him with an elbow, "If they said they don't know anything then they don't know anything! Sorry about that. New guy. So, it's immune to magic, huh… That's pretty much all I know how to apprehend threats, but I got an idea."

The guards cautiously approach the slime. Luz was about to intervene and speak up, but Amity pulls her aside and says, "No, Luz! We done all we can to help. Leave it to the Emperor's Coven, they are elite witches hand chosen by the best. If anyone can solve this mess it's-"

"Alright, Robert! Place your cuffs on that slime!" the first guard announced.

Amity's head mechanically shifts forward. "What?" she blurted.

"Yeah, I second that… you want me to _what_?" Robert says to his partner.

"It's violating the law?" the guard explains like it's obvious, "So you need to arrest it. Come on, didn't they cover this in the orientation?"

"I know how it works, Steve!" Robert exclaims while pulling out the cuffs, "But how the heck am I supposed to put these on when that thing doesn't even have limbs!?"

"Half the job is essentially figuring it out as you go. Think of it as a rite of passage, rookie!" Steve gives him a shove towards the creature and shouts, "Don't worry, I got your back! From this spot. Because I'm not moving from it."

"Wait!" Amity shouts, "Don't get close to it! It'll-"

"Your assistance has been necessary, citizen." Steve interrupts and holds up his hand to her, "But by the Emperor's authority granted to me, I must ask you girls to run along and do whatever you girls do. Besides, you say it only eats all-natural brands."

"Organics as in living matter, you idiot!" Luz holds Amity back from charging at the guard, "Get him away from it!"

"Wait," Robert pauses to turn back as Geoffrey takes notice of the guard next to it. "What did she just say-"

Geoffrey lunges at Robert and engulfs him entirely with its mass. The girls screamed in horror while Steve scratches his head, "Huh… that's a shame. I figured he'd last a week before something happens. Still longer than the other guy they stationed me with."

The slime pivots its body at the rest and gurgles as its mass increases exponentially again. Now possessing the size of a vehicle. It reaches back for the jars containing taffy and pulls it inside, shattering them into pieces before spitting them out like bullets.

"Get down!" Steve dives toward the girls and shoves them to a nearby stand. The glass pieces stick to the wooden barrier between but holds well against the assault.

"Okay," Steve breathes worryingly, "Mistakes were made. So, what do we do now?"

"We?" Amity repeats back to him, incredulously. "You're the Emperor's Guard! Why are you asking us?"

"Well you girls seem surprisingly mature for your age, so I thought maybe we can put our heads together and… solve this mess?" he sheepishly answers.

Amity frowns at the man before him, annoyed at how someone like him manages to get in the Coven. But also relieved in knowing it probably wouldn't be too hard for her to land a position either. Still, she scolds him, "Call for reinforcement then!"

"I uh… rather not… you see, Lilith is on her day off, but she always responds to distress calls. She's pretty amazing and smart, and I don't want to be the one to bother her about this when I'm trying to work up the nerve on asking her out."

Amity gives him a scrutinizing glare while Luz on the other hand understands his pity and gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder. "I believe in you, Steve," she says.

The three notice the firing of glass shards has stopped and waited for the slime to make its move. Steve peeks over as the girls follow him one by one to see Geoffrey resuming his feast on whatever is left of the candy.

Luz eyes the pieces of candy on the ground and hatches a plan. Without warning, she runs off from the spot while the slime is distracted.

Amity watches in wide eyes at her human charging alone and loudly whispers to her, "Luz! What are you doing?"

"Doing what I do best!" Luz replies before finally finishing with her makeshift pile. "Hey, Geoffrey! Look what I got you!"

Whether it was responding to its name or just the sound of her voice, the slime turns away to see Luz showing the sweets it missed. Geoffrey abandons the stall and crawl towards the pile.

"That's right come just a bit closer…" Luz doesn't back away as the slime rises up and leans over her and the sweets. Ready to drop down and claim them both.

Amity panics watching the thing getting ready to lunge and screams, "Luz!" but was silenced as Luz extended her arm at her to stay back.

"Now!" She slams her foot through the pile and jumps back. The spot where she stomped on glows, revealing the fire rune she etched into the dirt. A column of fire bursts from the rune, scorching the front side of the slime. Geoffrey rears back as its entire body is consumed in flames. It emits strange sounds almost like a scream.

Steve whistles at the sight, "Girl's got fire in her. She got a teacher or someone? I bet they be really proud of what she can do."

Amity doesn't answer knowing Eda's reputation with the guards. She looks longingly at Luz who looks back to give them a thumbs up. The admiration doesn't last long as Amity sees the still burning slime moving towards her.

"Get down!" she screams.

Luz turns to see Geoffrey unimpeded by the flames and lunges at her. Fortunately, Steve moves in to push her out of the way. The slime doesn't stop to attack again and uses this moment to escape again.

"Oh no you don't!" Steven conjures a spell and creates a magical net to lasso the slime, but horribly misjudges its strength. He barely manages an "uh oh" before he gets dragged off along with it while screaming.

Amity groans as she helps Luz up to her feet, "Ugh! This thing is seriously getting on my nerves!"

"Amity…" Luz grunts as she shakes off the dirt her face planted in from the push, "The direction they're heading to… that's where the playground is!"

Amity's eyes go wide with fear knowing that at this hour is when the kids usually go there to play. Remembering the adorable faces of the kids she reads to she goes in full panic mode and takes Luz's hand. "We got to them!" she exclaims.

As they both ran after the slime again, King and Eda finally catches up on Owlbert and can see the slime pulling the poor guard along. "There they are!" King points to the girls.

"And there's our troublemaker. Looks like it manages to get itself a meal before they found it." Eda takes notice of Steven getting his mask dragging against the ground. She irritably groans and says to King, "And looks like we got a guest. Drat… looks like I can't join you guys. Those idiots will find any excuse to pin a crime on me. If they see me, they'll think I have something to do with this."

"What now?" King asks.

Eda looks ahead and sees the playground full of children running around, unaware of the carnivorous abomination heading their way. "I'm going to drop you ahead to get those kids out of there! After that, try to keep it busy until Luz and Amity catches up. I'll come in if it gets too much for you all to handle."

King reluctantly agrees as he couldn't care any less for the kids' safety, but it be pointless of him to argue. Eda swoops in quick and goes as low as she can for King to safely hop off and flies out of there before any witnesses can see her.

Most of the children turn their attention to King's dramatic entrance as he dusts himself off and clears his throat. "Alright you little brats! Listen-" His warning is cut off short as his face is suddenly met with multiple sharp ends of wooden sticks. He gulps at the sight as his message weakly finishes with, "Here…?"

"Milord!" one of the kids calls out, "The Demon is here!"

King turns his head to the sound of ominous clapping coming from the top of the slide equipment. Out of the darkness, emerges his sworn enemy. The thief who took his throne. The monster who robbed him of his destiny. The child with the runny nose.

"Well, well, well… look what we have here…" the kid casts a malicious grin, "Thought you could invade my pawace from abuv? Not a bad plan, but how foolish of you to a-zoom us unprepared?"

"The Usurper…" King growls. His anger rose but he still remembers his mission and shakes away the thoughts. "Look! I'm not here to rightfully take back my throne! I'm here to… ugh… help."

The Usurper child is not buying it. "Pwease," he snidely remarks, "You expect me to buh-leave your lies?"

"I'm being serious here, you little cretin! There's a monster that's about to come here and devour your subjects! If you really are a ruler like you wrongfully think you are, then you need to get them to safety!" King exclaims then adds, "Also, do you ever wipe that nose of yours? It's like… hanging there, it's disgusting and distracting."

"Ha!" Ignoring his last remark, the Usurper laughs at him. "My subjects have all undergone training for anything that thweatens my kingdom! Not only that, but I also have my best knight. The legendary dark hero, Braxus the Brave, who I bribed with pretzels to stand guard at the frontlines." He gestures to the red demon with a large mouth for a face, sitting on the dirt while crunching on his snack.

"As for you, my sworn enemy," the Usurper points, "I will make you roo the day you came here alone. Guards! Kill him!"

"Miword!" Another child runs up to the kid and tugs on his shirt for his attention.

"Wait!" the Usurper orders his subjects to stop so he could listen to what the child has to say, "Speak my scout. What ails you?"

"Um, there's uh… there's a thing… and there's a thing and it's coming right here," the scout babbles.

The Usurper sighs, "Cindy, I told you, you have to say either it's a thweat or an ally."

"Uhhh…" The child sucks on her thumb, not knowing which words means what.

The Usurper dumbs it down for her, "Bad or good?"

"Ohhh!" Cindy nods, "Bad!"

Geoffrey lands in the center of the playground before them. Steve gets whipped across the field from the sudden halt and screams as he crashes into the wall. All the children that were detaining King screams and cries at the monster before running away.

"No! Get back here!" the Usurper shouts at them, "Stand your ground! We must fight back-ahhh!" Geoffrey slams its body against the slide, causing the entire playset to shake. King climbs up the slide and grabs the Usurper to push him down to escape.

"Get out of here! And don't you ever come back!" King then pumps his fists into the air after successfully reclaiming his throne. "Haha, yes! Victory is mine! I'm back baby-whoa!"

The slide shudders again from another assault from Geoffrey. The slime rears back again, ready to tear the slide apart to grab King before a magical blast harmlessly hits it from behind.

"Over here!" Steve shouts at the monster, successfully taking its attention away. "It's one thing to eat my partner, but I am not going to let you eat any of these kids! As the Emperor's chosen, I will protect these civilians with my life! For as long as I stand, you will not-?"

A long tendril shoots out and wraps itself around his left leg. Steve looks to the ground and mutters, "Oh no…" Geoffrey pulls him off of his feet and slams him to the ground. King watches it repeatedly swinging Steve around and against the ground over and over, wincing every time it makes impact as Steve cries out in pain.

"King!?" He turns his head to the sound of Luz's voice as both her and Amity finally arrives. King quickly slides down to join them, "Luz! Amity! There's something I have to tell you!"

"Not now!" Luz shouts back, "Help us gather the kids!"

"But-ah!" King jumps back as Steve drops in front of him. Geoffrey turn away from the beaten guard and notice Braxus still sitting on the ground not paying attention to all the screaming and chaos that is happening as he happily munches on his pretzels.

Amity was the first to notice and screams for his attention. "Braxus! Over here, sweetie! Come to me!" she says while running to him.

However, the slime has already beaten her to the kid who only notice her calling his name. "Miss Amity!" Braxus gleefully crawls up to his feet and waves at her. Geoffrey descends at his prey, snatching the screaming kid, and swallows him whole.

"NOO!" Amity and Luz screams.

Of course, if the kid had actually died there then this story's rating would dramatically gone up. Not a second sooner had Geoffrey consumed the kid did its body began to violently shake. It gurgles and groans before spitting Braxus back out high into the air.

Amity wastes no time and runs to catch the kid. "Abomination rise! Abomination rise! ABOMINATION RISE!" she commands. The purple golem emerges and vaults her into the air to intercept his fall. Amity successfully grabs the flying kid and safely descends with the Abomination catching them both.

Geoffrey lurches forward to them but its movement is stopped once again by a magic net. Steve holds onto a tree for support as he maintains the spell to stop the monster. "I didn't…" he groans, "hear no bell…"

Luz runs up to the slime and quickly carves an ice rune, causing a cage-like formation of ice to wrap around the slime. She turns to Steve who weakly nods at her to check on the others while he keeps it occupied.

King joins her as they head over to Amity who is currently comforting the crying child in her arms. "Shh, shh, it's okay, buddy. You're safe," she reassures. But Braxus only continues to cry in her shoulder. Amity remembers the slime's acidic touch and checks him for any wounds. Her eyes froze when they came across a bleeding wound from on his ankle.

Luz catches up to her and breathes, "Is he okay?"

"Of course, he's not okay!" Amity snaps at her, enraged by the sight of the kid's wound. "Look what your precious 'Geoffrey' did! He already devoured someone and was about to eat a child!"

"You can't seriously still think I did it?" Luz fights back her sob, "Why can't you believe that I'm innocent?"

"Who else could have ruined it?" Amity shifts Braxus in her arms as she stands up, "I rather believe anything else than you lying to me. But all evidence points to you."

"Amity, I didn't!"

"Then who did!?"

"ME!" King answers at the top of his lungs, "It was me, okay! I did it! I was the one who ruined your project!"

They both snap their heads to King, their faces frozen in disbelief. Luz seem to not recognize her own voice as she stammers out, "W-what?"

"I did it," King meekly answers, "But it was by accident! I fell off the couch and slam into the table, but I was afraid you two wouldn't believe me and think I done it on purpose because of our fight from earlier! So, I stayed quiet…"

"It was you…?" Luz couldn't believe her own words as she said it, let alone his confession. "After I defended you? After you told us how you weren't involved?"

King glumly nods, "I didn't mean for you two to fight… I wanted to tell you but you both were getting so heated that I was afraid you seriously be mad at me… I'm really sorry, Luz. And I'm sorry to you too, Amity."

"Then…" Amity stares down at him then looks to Luz, "Then Luz didn't… oh my gosh. Luz, I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have accused you!"

"Amity…" Luz glares at King, feeling at a loss for words but has so much she wanted to say to him. King could feel the weight of those emotions behind her eyes. He dejectedly looks to the ground, unable to find anything else to say besides sorry. Luz looks back to her and says, "You have nothing to be sorry about. It was a terrible misunderstanding… I'm sorry too. I never should have doubted your skills or said those terrible things to you."

"But you were telling the truth this entire time and I wouldn't listen to you," Amity tearfully replies. "You didn't do anything wrong, but I was kept accusing you. I yelled at you and I… I let my temper get the better of me…" She rests her head against Braxus and holds him tight, to comfort him as much as she needs it herself. "I must be a horrible girlfriend…"

"No, don't say that!" Luz reaches for her shoulder before hearing the shattering of ice. Everyone turns to see Steve's magic dissipating as he slips unconscious and falls over. Geoffrey breaks free from its ice prison.

Luz sees King walking towards him before grabbing his arm, "King! What are you doing? Get back!"

"No!" King shrugs off her arm. "This all happened because of me. I'm tired of letting people get hurt because of my cowardice. This is my moment! To prove that I. Am not. A jelly baby!" he screams while running towards the creature.

Amity turns to Luz and mutters, "Is that… supposed to mean anything to us?"

"Hey, you!" King shouts to the slime that lurches its direction to him. "Yeah, I'm talking to you, you overgrown, petri dish, grape-flavored, soggy bubblegum! You want something to eat? Because you're looking a feast fit for a King right here! Come and get some!"

Geoffrey stares at King for a moment, almost as if it were listening to whatever he's saying. But since it's incapable of understanding speech, let alone insults, the slime takes no interest in the small guy and takes it leave for more food to consume.

"Hey! Get back here! This is so supposed to be my moment, dang it!" King goes to chase after the slime, but Luz grabs him by the collar and pulls him back.

Luz stamps her foot and points in the direction of their home, "King, you need to leave! Me and Amity can take care of this ourselves."

"But…" King meets with Luz's scorn and looks to Amity who stares back while nodding in agreement. He sheepishly rubs his paw as his ears droops down. They both continue forward to see where the slime is heading, leaving King behind to sulk. "But I want to help…"

Geoffrey stops at a nearby bakery and slams through the window glass to enter. All the citizens around and inside scream in terror at the creature as it ignores them for the pastries on the display shelf. The man behind the counter barely blinks at the monster devouring the sweets and casually rings up the price on the register for every baked good it eaten.

"Okay," Amity retracts her head from the side of the fence as she bounces the still weeping Braxus in her arms. "Your ice can slow it down, but it'll just burn through. Your fire only made it angrier. And I'm guessing the plant and light runes won't be a better option. Any chance you happened to discover any new spells? One that can destroy an all-devouring slime?"

Luz lifts the hand of the unconscious Steve and watches it drop back down. She shrugs, "These things usually just come to me out of nowhere. To think an accident could create such a monster..."

Worse part is Amity knows that having an Abomination with such properties would easily propel her status of being one of the greatest Abomination witches ever. On the other hand, if anyone found out she's involved with it, it could jeopardize her career. It will be all over the news. Her parents could find out. And they would forcefully take her away from Luz.

"Amity!" Luz shakes her arm, noticing the girl hyperventilating. "Stay with me!"

"Sorry," Amity breathes, "This has been a really awful day…"

Braxus cries louder in her arms. Amity shoos the poor kid and pats on his back, "Oh, I'm sorry, Braxus. I must have scared you too. Do you want me to look at that leg of yours?"

Braxus finally pulls his face away from her shoulder and sniffs, "No, my leg is fine. I got that from jumping from the swing. It doesn't hurt much."

"Did the creature burn you?"

"No," Braxus holds up a paper bag from his coat. The bag is clearly soaked in the purple slime that harmlessly drips from the bottom. "That thing ruined my pretzels!"

Amity stares at the bag then at Braxus. Her confused expression melts into relief and maternal-like love as she embraces the kid even tighter. "I'm never letting you go," she whines.

"Wait…" Luz stares at the bag then turns to Geoffrey crawling out of the store with bits of jelly, frosting, and sprinkles on its body. She snaps her fingers, "That's it! Salt!"

Amity and Braxus looks at each other for a moment then to Luz. "I'm sorry?" she repeats.

"Earlier, when I tried to feed Geoffrey, he was disgusted by the sea salt chip I gave him. He must have spat him out because it tasted the salty pretzels he was carrying!"

"Salt…" Amity puts Braxus down for him to leave. "I see, the abomination couldn't maintain a structural form because of its composition being mostly liquid. And salt draws out moisture. If we expose it to large quantities, it'll be torn apart!"

"And the ocean has plenty of salt! We can lure Geoffrey there!"

"Luz, you're a genius!" The praise made her blush but now that they have found their solution, the question is how exactly are they going to make sure that Geoffrey will keep chasing them? From what they have seen so far, the slime enjoys eating anything sugary and sweet, and will ignore everything else for it. But where can they find anything like that around here that it hasn't eaten yet?

"Honey!" The girls turn their heads to see a humanoid bear pushing a cart filled with jars of honey. "Get your honey here! I couldn't find anyone willing to sell my stock so that's why I'm selling it on the streets! If you happen to know anyone who runs a store and is willing to sell fresh honey, please let me know!"

Luz runs in front of the man's path as Amity follows behind. "How much?" Luz asks.

"Ten snails each."

"Ouch, that's about…" Luz pulls out her empty pockets again, "… ten more than I have."

Amity rests her hand onto her shoulder and pulls out a plastic card, "No worries. Lucky for you, you're dating a rich girl."

"I don't take credit."

"What!?" exclaims Amity, "Who doesn't receive credit payment these days?" She shakes her head, "No, what am I even doing? Can't you just lend us a few jars? We need to use them to lure the monster that is attacking the town _._ _Right now!_ "

The man follows her point to see Geoffrey turning over carts, uprooting trees, and smashing through any window in attempt to grab any civilian that has yet to evacuate. He merely shrugs and looks back at her. "Ten snails each," he repeated.

Luz grabs onto Amity's arm to stop her from lunging at the man. Everyone's eyes were suddenly drawn to a large bag being dropped on top of the man's cart. "30 snails in count, my good man," announced Eda.

"Eda!"

She winks at the girls and takes the three jars before distributing each to them. Eda then forcefully turns them around pushes them away from the man as quickly as they can while explaining, "Come on, let's go before he finds out its filled with pebbles."

After a moment of debriefing the plan with Eda, all three of them approach Geoffrey as it busies itself trying to grab any of the civilians. To get the thing's attention, Amity unscrews the lid to her honey jar and gives it her best throw. The jar soars through the air with the honey barely able to spill out before it smashes against the creature's body. The honey sizzles and dissolves into its mass. Geoffrey lets out a joyous gurgling sound before turning its attention around to where it came from.

Luz holds out the jar in front of him and shouts, "You like that, Geoffrey? We got more where that came from!"

Geoffrey shoots out a tendril to snatch both the jar and Luz, but Eda zips by on her staff and grabs the girl just before it could. Amity catches Eda's arm and gets swung onto the end of the staff. She holds onto Luz's waist and looks back to see Geoffrey making its charge at them.

"It's chasing us!" Amity relays to them, "Good, now we just need to direct it out of the town and into the ocean!"

"We're not using the beach?" Luz asks.

"Too many people could be around," Eda shouts back, "If the Emperor's Coven do catch wind of me being involved, I rather not have multiple accounts of homicide pressed against me."

Amity peeks over Luz's shoulder and frowns at the witch's words. "And you're not doing it because getting people eaten is a bad thing too, right?" she asks for confirmation.

Eda shrugs, "Eh, sure. That too, I guess-woah!" A tendril nearly grazes her as it was shot out with incredible speed, causing Eda to swerve away as an uprooted tree is thrown at their previous spot.

She looks back to see Geoffrey not bothering to bounce with its entire body as it is now capable of catching up with them by crawling. Tentacles swings violently out of its body, grabbing any trees or carts it could use as projectiles.

"How much closer are we now?" Amity shouts to Eda.

"About a quarter away!" Eda looks over her shoulder to make sure they're just out of the slime's reach but within its sight so it wouldn't give up the chase. Her eyes notice the strange movement coming from the top of the slime. Its 'head' shudders and compresses before releasing an upward shot of its own substance high into the air. The fired mass arcs downward from the sky like a mortar strike, before splitting into multiple projectiles. Each of them easily being the size of a person.

"Incoming!" Eda shouts to the girls and kicks her staff to let Owlbert know to speed up. They swerve, drift, and hop over the raining slime shots and the thrown trees. But even all of this was too much for them all to look out for as a close call from a wooden cart causes them to get hit by the slime mortars.

All three of them went flying from the impact. Eda is forced to let go of her jar to save the girls from falling by conjuring a magic, cushion-like bubble to break their falls. Eda's jar splatters against the ground where it is immediately slammed upon by one of Geoffrey's arms.

Amity notices the loss of their second jar and quickly looks around to see Luz slowly getting up. Her heart leaps when she sees the girl pull out their last honey jar from under her sweater. However, Amity wasn't the only one to notice as she felt the force of a speeding limb making its way to grab the human girl.

"Luz!" she screams.

Eda rushes in and intercepts the attack with a barrier, but Geoffrey doesn't stop there and continues growing more limbs to snatch Luz as it crawls towards. Eda responds back by widening the barrier until it becomes stuck between two buildings across from each other.

Using this much magic scares her, but she just needs to slow the creature down enough to give Luz and Amity plenty of time to outrun it out of town. Hopefully, she can avoid the creature and hop back onto Owlbert to continue their chase through the forest.

But a new flaw emerges in her plan, as Eda felt the rumbles beneath the ground she's standing. Knowing what this could possibly mean, she turns back and shouts to the girls, "Look out!"

A large tendril burst from the dirt between the two girls. Luz had jumped forward on instinct to avoid the slime but her rough landing causes her to let go of the jar. It lands safely on the ground and rolls away. Luz tries to recover and pick it back up, but her foot gets caught by the tendril and forces her to the ground again.

Luz screams and claws at the dirt as the tendril slowly pulls her back and into the hole. "I got you!" Amity rushes over to her and grabs her by the arms in a vain effort to pull her free. Using her foot, Amity summons her Abomination to assist in pulling but even if she had five at her disposal, they could not best Geoffrey's strength.

"Amity!" Luz calls for her, "You need to let go! Grab the honey and lure it out of here!"

She bits her tongue to stop the urge of telling her to shut it. With them so close to the entrance of town and with Eda occupied with stopping the full might of the slime's assault, the only option she could logically take is to grab the jar.

But the idea of losing Luz to that devouring monster is too much for her to bear. Even if there was a large chance it could ignore them all in effort to just grab the honey, Amity was not willing to let go of her.

The only thing she can probably do is to order her Abomination to throw the honey jar somewhere else. To hopefully distract it so they can be free and… and maybe come up with some plan to get it out of here?

Amity opens her eyes to look for the jar but couldn't find it. Panic rises in her chest as she desperately scans the area to where it could have possibly ended up.

"Hey, ugly!"

The trio all recognized the voice and turn their attention to the small demon holding up the honey jar over his boney head.

Luz screams, "King!?"

He hoists up the jar for Geoffrey to see, who gurgles and babbles excitingly at. "So you don't like your meat tough, huh?" provoked King, "Then let me _sweeten_ the deal!"

"Oh my gosh, really?" Eda grumbles.

King unscrews the lid and turns the jar over at his head. The honey slowly flows and drizzles down his head before making its way to his body. His resilient stance and bravado crumbles before the sensation of warm honey oozing down his body. "Oh, this is-this is really gross… oh man, this… this is going to make my fur knot up real bad, euck…"

The open-air scent of honey eventually finds its way to Geoffrey. The slime noticeably shakes and bounces as King finishes off the last of the jar and smashes it down. "Eda!" He points at the barrier to signal her to drop it then turns to run out of the city walls.

Eda opens and extends a tunnel with her magic to direct Geoffrey around her and the girls for it to chase after King. It pays no attention to them as it passes through with even the limb from underground letting go of Luz's leg in its narrow eagerness.

Amity pulls Luz up and embraces her in a tight hug. "Please don't ever try to give me an ultimatum again," she pleaded.

"My bad," Luz gasps as nearly all the air in her body is squeezed out of her. She pulls herself free and stares worriedly into the direction where King and that monster had run off to.

Eda comes over to check on them as Luz spins around, "Eda! Why did you let that monster after King!? We need to go save him!"

"I'm not abandoning him to his fate, Luz," Eda said, feeling a bit offended at her accusation. "Sure, sometimes I'm convinced he's a baby sloth dipped in tar under that skull of his, but if there's one thing I know he's capable of, it's that he's a good runner. We'll save him but don't fret just yet, he's got this."

"I don't got this! I don't got this!" King screams as he continues sprinting through the forest with the devouring slime chasing at his tail. Geoffrey would have caught up with him easily but thanks to the dense woods impeding its path and preventing it from using the tricks it did to Eda and the others, King is managing to keep a good pace away from the creature's reach.

The distance does little to ease his fear of being eaten alive, but thankfully the anxiety is acting like adrenaline to his fight or flight mode. He hoped the others have made it out okay. As long as they are safe, even if he were to trip and be consumed by this abomination, it would have been worth it.

But it would be better if he survived too, of course.

King remembers the landscape around him and picks up his speed. With a few left and right turns, King jumps out of the foliage and into the clearing leading up to the cliffside overlooking the ocean. He didn't have to look back to know Geoffrey is still following him by the sound of trees being torn apart.

He carefully approaches the edge and stares down the steep drop. King tries to think of a way to get the slime to jump over but excited rush of emotions kept him idling until Geoffrey finally appears before him.

"Ah!" King involuntarily screams at the carnivorous creature, now slowly swirling and shuddering its body towards him. Like a predator ready to pounce on its prey. King's nerves have strengthened at the idea of him being a lower food chain than this amalgamation.

His cowardice has afforded him nothing but pain. King was too weak to answer for what he had done but he is not going to go out like this. He takes a mighty step forward with his widdle foot and challengingly points at Geoffrey. "I'm not afraid of you! You're not even a real monster! I'm the _King of Demons_! My kind predates the meaning of fear! We are the scourge of this world! Masters of darkness! Bringers of ruin! You are NOTHING compared to me!"

Geoffrey stops approaching King, giving him a false sense of superiority. Its body convulses and compresses into itself. Its effort to create its intended Abomination form takes into effect as it struggles to shape itself a humanoid body but the structure falls apart into its gooey form. A slender, bony-like hand emerges and grasps onto the ground for support. Another arm emerges as the mass underneath weaves itself a skeletal torso with massive misshapen legs.

Its head finally emerges with only one working eye while the other stretched down to its chest. Its mouth opens with stringy residue connected between the jaw and the roof to let out a haunting scream mixed between man and animal.

King's courage leaves him as if his soul was sucked out by a straw. He screams at the running creature and leaps off the cliff, with Geoffrey lunging after him. The ocean water below rises up to meet him as Geoffrey slowly descends upon the little guy. Ready to devour him with its opened mouth.

But it never got the chance, as Eda dives in with Owlbert and grabs King by his collar just before the two crashes into the salty water.

"I got you, buddy!" Eda reassures King. Then frowns at the little guy who is still covering his eyes and screaming. She gives him a little shake to snap him out of the trauma.

"Woah! Quit it!" King cries out to her while tugging at his collar pressing against his neck. Eda chuckles and swings her little buddy to sit behind her. King hugs her waist for thanks before hearing the awful screeching emitting from the slime.

They both look down to see Geoffrey struggling to rise out of the water, but the salt contents boil its body like a jello on a hot frying pan. Its grotesque form melts away, leaving nothing but a purple, oily substance floating on the surface.

King cringes in disgust at the mess and asks Eda, "Think it's dead?"

"I seen a lot of dead things and I can tell you most that look like _that_ are most certainly dead." Eda casts King a sly grin and says, "Guess you really are a King. I don't know any jelly baby that can pull a stunt like that off."

King sticks his chest out proudly, "Well, a King must be brave if he is to defend his people."

"Right, but you know that fall could've totally killed you if I didn't show up?"

"Why? It's just water."

"… so impact velocity means nothing to you?" Eda flies the both of them down to the shorelines where Amity and Luz have finally caught up on foot. King hops off and gets tackled by the human girl who showers him in kisses.

"King! Oh, my little baby!" Luz cries, "Are you okay? Did that nasty little slime hurt you? Do you need a bath?" She pulls her arms away, feeling the sticky residue of honey clinging onto her clothes.

King pries his face away from her but hearing her concerns gave him pause. "Wait, you're not… you're not mad at me?"

"Well… I can't say I'm not still upset about what you did," Luz admitted. She then sighs and let's go of him, "But I couldn't bear the idea of you risking your life like that! What were you thinking?"

King rubs his arm and looks between Luz and Amity with guilt and sorrow in his eyes. "I just… wanted to help. To make up for what I did to you two. I never wanted you girls to fight and I don't want to be the reason for you both to break up. The truth is…" King clenches his fists and close his eyes, embarrassed to reveal his emotions but lets it go, nevertheless. "The truth is I totally ship you girls! You're both adorable! I even came up with your pairing name! _Amuz!"_

Luz and Amity stares back at him. "Amuz…?" Amity repeats back, not even sure where to begin with receiving this information. "That's… I don't… why Amuz? And not, I don't know… Lumity?"

"That'll never work," King scoffs and shakes his head.

"I like it," Luz pipes up.

"This apology took a weird turn," grumbled Eda.

"But I was jealous of how you two were getting along… like I was to Willow and Gus. I should have known better, but I still made things worse because of my petty behavior. I'm really sorry. I know you must be disappointed in me… I wouldn't even blame you if you hated me."

"Oh, King." Luz kneels to his height and takes him by the shoulders to comfort him. "I could never hate you. Sure, we can fight, say awful things, and do awful things to each other from time to time. But it doesn't mean we'll end up hating each other. Because I know you. You're my sweet little King. And…" Luz turns to Amity, extending her words to her as well. "I think we all made done and said things we never meant to say."

"Not me," Eda snidely remarks, "I haven't done anything wrong."

"You almost threw all of Luz's homework away," Amity reminds her.

"I stand by what I said."

"You really don't hate me?" King looks up at Amity too and asks, "After everything I did to you?"

Amity shakes her head and smiles at him, "No, I can understand what it's like not having the attention of someone you like."

That of course went over Luz's head who pulls her booboo buddy in for a hug. She kisses him on the head and says, "Besides, someone once said to me that everyone has their bad faults, but a real friend accepts them and even sees them as good ones too."

Eda rolls her eyes, "And I'm pretty sure I sounded cooler than that."

The sound of something emerging out of the water causes everyone to jump and readies themselves for whatever is left of that monster. But they all were surprised to not see the giant sentient slime but rather an Emperor's guard crawling out with soaking, corroded gear.

"Hey!" Luz snaps her fingers at the guy, "That's the one who got swallowed whole earlier! He's alive!"

"All of that gear and layers of clothing must have prevented the digestion from getting to him," Amity concluded from the damages on his body.

Robert looks up at the group where his eyes settles onto Eda before letting out a shrilled scream. "You!?" he scrambles back to the tides running through him. "Y-you're the one they warned us about! The Owl Lady! So were you behind this-this menace! And you're the same girls from before! And you!" His finger points to King where he paused. "… I don't know who you are, but you must be an accomplice! All of you! Accomplices! Once the Coven hears about this, you all will have to answer to the Emperor himself!"

Amity felt like what little freedom she had has finally been slammed shut behind bars now. Her hope. Her future. All gone in an instant. Deadpanned, she mutters, "Ha… guess there goes my career of trying to make it into the Emperor's Coven…"

"Don't worry, kiddo." Eda elbows her to snap her out of her trance, "Lucky for you, I been working on a spell for this type of occasion." She taps her staff for Owlbert to leave and holds it up by the end with both hands. In one fluid motion, Eda swings the stick against the side of the guard's head, knocking him out cold.

"It only works when they're unconscious, of course," she explains to the mortified kids.

"We broke… so many laws today…" Amity mutters.

"Now you're part of the family. You all get going, I can handle this mess myself." Eda grabs the guard by his feet and starts dragging him away. In the direction of the ocean.

"Eda!?"

"I'm kidding!" Eda exclaims, now dragging the guard the other way. "Sheesh, learn to take a joke."

The rest of the group starts to make their way back home. Amity sighs in relief now that the problem is dealt with. The slime they accidentally birthed made such a havoc upon town but fortunately the town does have a history of getting randomly attacked by strange creatures all the time. The town should just be thankful it's gone instead of wondering where it came from.

Amity felt Luz's hand interlocking with hers after striding up to her. "Never thought I'd be this excited to go back to doing homework. It'll be hard to complete the Abomination assignment without having one…" Luz chuckles.

"You can just use mine instead," Amity suggested.

Luz felt surprised by that, "You'd still want to help me with my assignments?"

"Of course," Amity answers, "I still want to show you the best of what Abomination Track has to offer, I can't let my g-girlfriend lose her track status."

Luz beams and swings their locked hands around, "Aw, you just called me your girlfriend!"

"D-don't start! If you start making fun of me, I won't call you anything again!"

King clears his throat for their attention and timidly walks up to them. "Uh… do you guys mind if… I help out?" he offers.

Amity was just as surprised as Luz is from the offer. "Do you even know all the tracks that are taught at Hexside?" she inquires.

"Uh… no, but I can help with providing snacks!"

With one free arm, Luz picks him up and nuzzles her face against his. "That'll do, buddy. Come on, we probably should get Hooty back into his doorframe. It's a good thing he's incapable of feeling pain."

"Hehe," King chuckles, "He's not."

~/~

" _And this concludes our twenty-four-hour marathon. But don't go anywhere yet, for we have a sneak peak of our season 8 premiere starring our two new recruits."_

" _Man, why the heck did we agree to do this?" Ribs complains as he shines his light around the dark asylum they're in. "I ain't got anything against ghosts, mind you. It's just they got something against me."_

 _His brother Tibs pushes him out of the way, "Well it's either this or prison! And if_ somebody _hasn't fallen for that obvious sting operation, we wouldn't be in the first place!"_

" _Guy said he had exotic spices, man. You know how I been looking for a way to step up my jambalaya game." A hard-bumping sound could be heard through the television, causing both frog twins to jump and shine their lights in the direction it was coming from. In the corner of the room, is what appears to be a woman with long dark hair and white dress, repeatedly banging her head against the wall._

" _That is five levels of disturbing right there, man!" exclaims Ribs._

_Tibs cautiously approaches the ghost and clears his throat, "A-ahem, uh excuse me, ma'am? Are you Lizzy Jordan? We regret to inform you that it is illegal to reside in this building as it is claimed by the Emperor and is not available for the public. You will have to evacuate from the premises immediately or-"_

_The lady shot her head towards the camera, revealing her dark pits for eyes and elongated jaw before the video distorts along with the audio cutting their screams._

The crystal ball suddenly switches to a commercial for Luz, Amity, and King sitting on the couch. "Huh, guess those guys got themselves a new path in life," Luz mentions while checking the time to see it past midnight. Now with most of her homework out of the way and for only a couple of left to do tomorrow, the three relaxes on the couch and manage to watch a few hours left of the marathon.

Amity hides her pleasure in their suffering well with a stoic expression. She looks down at King curled up between who is currently snoozing away. "Look at this guy," Amity says while taking the opportunity to gently stroke his fur softened by the shower he took earlier, "All that fuss he made earlier and here he is sleeping the last portion of the shows away."

Luz takes her turn stroking at his fur too with a loving smile, "I have a feeling this was just his excuse with spending more time with me. He's such a little sweetheart." She looks up from King to see Amity's smile fade as her eyes look occupied with her own thoughts.

"What's up?" she asks.

"Huh?" Amity snaps out her mind before registering the question and says, "Oh, it's just… I'm still bothered about what happened to us today."

Luz could tell what's exactly on her mind from that and responds with, "Amity, it was a terrible misunderstanding. I'm not holding it against you."

Amity knows she wouldn't, but it did little to shake away her fears. "I was so sure you had done it that I wasn't willing to listen to you. I thought I knew you better than that, but I…" She trails off, recalling how she let her temper get the better of her.

Luz is gentle and sweet, that she knows and loves about. But compared to her personality, Amity is blunt and short-tempered. The clash of their personalities concerns her. Even though they both were victim of another person's folly, how does Amity know it won't happen again?

She felt a hand worming its way through her arm and into her fingers. Amity looks up to Luz who shyly smiles at her before letting her hand hold onto hers. "Don't beat yourself up about it," Luz reassures her, "I'm just glad we're able to talk it out and relax together like this. Aren't you?"

Amity nods, but Luz knows it didn't ease her fear. She tries to think to herself of what to say but comforting a significant other feels different than a friend like Willow or Gus. With all that has happened over the days, she barely had any thought of what it's like to be in a relationship. In fact, she keeps forgetting that she only just liked Amity last night.

They went from crushes to dating so quick, Luz barely could keep her head from spinning off her shoulders. How could she find the right thing to say to Amity if she can't get a grasp of her situation? It was no wonder they fought. Neither of them knew how to handle this new pressure between them.

"Maybe we really did rush this without thinking, huh?" Luz mutters out loud. Amity looks back to her in surprise, but as the words settled in, she reluctantly agrees.

Even so, it doesn't mean it should end because they rushed it. Or that they fought. They're bound to make mistakes. But if they're both willing to learn from it and move on, then why stop now?

Luz squeezes Amity's hand and grins, "I mean, we went ahead and declare ourselves together without even making plans. We still got a couple of days left, so why don't we make tomorrow a day just for us?"

"For… us?" Her cheeks flushes in red as the realization sets in, "Y-you mean like a date? Are you asking me out?"

Luz didn't expect an excited reaction like that. She nervously scratches at her cheek and chuckles, "N-not exactly… I sort of meant it as a mutual decision, you know…?" Her words were met with a confused and disheartened look from Amity. Right, she should have known better than to dance around the bush.

"Nevermind that. Amity," Luz takes a breath to calm herself, feeling more nervous now that she has to say out loud. "Would you want to go on a date… with me…?"

"Yes!" Amity squeals. It was clearly too quick and eager of an answer than she wanted it to sound. She coughs in a vain attempt to hide it and answers with, "I mean, sure. I don't have anything better to do."

Eda came down the stairs for some water as she hears the girls giggling on the couch. She cracks a smile and announce her presence with, "Well, looks like you girls are in better terms now." Eda scruffs Luz's hair on the way to the kitchen.

"You could say that," Amity answers, giggling at the mess on Luz's head. "We're sorry about the trouble we caused earlier. And for our… behavior too."

Eda emerges and shrugs as she takes a sip of water. "Eh, I learned to grow numb to these kind of things by now. As long as no one gets hurt… that being said, you girls got any plans tomorrow?"

They both gaze at each other and exchange mutual embarrassed and anxious feelings. "Uh… yeah," Luz speaks up, "Me and Amity are going to-"

"Good," Eda interrupts her, "Because for your punishment, both of you are going to help me with the stand tomorrow to make up for all the food we lost to your pet project."

"What!?" Amity and Luz cries out together.

"Do you girls rehearse this kind of thing or-?"

"But we just made plans!" Amity exclaims, "We were going to have our first d-date!"

"And you can spend that by working on the stall t-together," Eda says with finality in her tone as she climbs back up the stairs, "It's just for one day, be glad it's not for the entire week. Good night!"

Luz watches Eda disappear to the second floor and sighs in disappointment. There isn't much she could do now to change her mind. "Well… maybe we could go somewhere after we-Amity!?" Luz turns around to see Amity's face tightening in frustration. Getting redder and redder just like how Edric said it looks when she gets mad.

"Hey hey!" Luz takes both of her hands and tries to calm her down before she passes herself out. She tries shaking them, pulling them, make them do snake-like dances but Amity seems too upset to even notice. With nothing left in her mind and in the rush of the moment, Luz slaps Amity's hands onto her own face and held them there.

Amity snaps out of her trance at the touch of Luz's cheeks under her palms. Her anger slowly melts away as she confusingly stares at the girl and asks, "What are you doing?"

"Taking your temper away," Luz repeated the words her own mother once said to her when she was young. She gives her a goofy grin, "Whenever you're feeling down, I'll just take them from you. To keep that smile on you always." She presses her hands harder against her cheeks to squish her face in and mutters out, "Is it working?"

Just when Amity thought she could understand her, Luz always manages to find a way to surprise her. She can be so juvenile. So dumb. And so sincerely sweet. Her temper had indeed gone away and in its place was nothing more but admiration for the girl who accepts both her good and bad sides.

Amity smiles at her goofball and answers, "It's working."


	12. Fifth Day, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year's everyone! Stay safe out there and let's hope for the best this year!

“Wonder awaits you…” King halfheartedly announces to the passing citizens. He is wearing two billboards strapped over his shoulder with one in the front and the other on the back. Both of them are drawn by Luz and Amity in colored pencils of Eda’s stand with labels stating, ‘Bazaar of Human Relics.’ “Stop by our shop and peruse the many unique artifacts of a race from another world. Trinkets and baubles and-“

A passerby bumps against King and spills a bit of soda onto the little guy. “Hey!” he shouts, wiping it away. “Watch it buddy-!” Another passerby bumps into him. A teenage girl runs through and sneaks a quick pet on his fur. A large bipedal monster citizen stomps by, causing King to bounce off the ground from the vibrations and fall on his back. For a small child to hop onto his chest and hops off with a giggle.

A high-pitched sound that can only be described as a tea kettle brewing emits from the King as he struggles to lift himself back up, but the overbearing boards are weighing him down. “Eda!” he shouts over to her, “Can I take this stupid thing off me yet!? I feel like an idiot!”

“That’s how you know the punishment is working!” Eda shouts back behind the counter, “You’re lucky after what you done, that I didn’t tie you to a pole and place a bucket of rotten tomatoes nearby!” She nonchalantly reaches out and stops Luz by grabbing the collar of her shirt and says, “Don’t help him, it builds character.”

“Ohh…” Luz groans, “But he’s like a widdle baby turtle.”

“I’m not paying you to help turtles, Luz.”

“But you never paid me.“

“I’m not letting you live in my house to help turtles, Luz. Here,” Eda bends down and picks up a box of various human objects and drops it onto the girl. “Sort these out with Amity. Inventory’s going out faster than I can manage.”

“Never seen the place this packed before,” Luz noted. She been to the usual plaza where Eda sets up her shop and seen other various stalls too, but the entire area is densely packed with not just people but other shops too. Every square inch is just bustling with people, humanoids, and not-so-humanoids.

“With the restrictions lifted after we dumped that burglar to the guards, everyone and their mothers are out here now to indulge themselves. They even reopened the fair since that piranha-bowl game attendant made a full recovery.”

“Man, you wouldn’t think this town was just attacked yesterday.”

“Eh, we all seen worse. This place could be in a middle of a typhoon and you’ll still have suckers lining up for killer deals.”

Luz chuckles and readjusts her grip on the box, “Reminds me of Black Friday.”

“Sounds ominous, tell me about it later.” Eda ducks down to scrounge for her products, “Now, when you’re facing this many people looking for a good deal to buy, you got to take every step you can to take advantage of these suckers. Take this weird statue with a tail for example.”

Eda pulls out what’s clearly a lamp and slaps a price label on it stating 60 snails, but the number is crossed out for the discounted price of 30 snails instead.

“Wait, I thought you were selling it for that much,” Luz wondered.

“That’s the beauty of it, kid.” Eda places the lamp down only to have a customer grab it and drop a sack of snails in its place. She collects her earnings with a snide grin and chuckles, “If we keep this up, I could achieve my dream of swimming in a bathtub of gold. They always make it seem so wallowingly in the cartoons… Now go on then, get back to your little girlfriend before she burns a hole in our stand with that glare of hers.”

Luz blushes in embarrassment from hearing Eda refer to Amity that way. Not to mention how she dropped the title down on her like that. It was easy for Luz to tease Amity with but having someone like Eda say it feels so exposing _._ Like the first time her mom found her notebook drawings of Azura when she got into the series.

She nods at Eda and answers with, “No problem, maAAAaaasterrr…?” She roughly transitioned her words to avoid accidentally saying ‘mami’ causing Eda to cast a strange look at her.

“… I’ll pretend to forget this if you do too. Now quit idling and get to it!” Eda lifts the curtain and gently guides her through.

Luz eagerly ducks under the curtain they set up leading to the back side of the stand that is adjacent to other stalls, creating a sort of alleyway where the customers would not be walking through. One of the owners from a few stalls down was caught dumping the trash bag into the dumpster and stops to wave at Luz. She waves back and turns away just as tentacles emerge from the trash and pulls the man in without a sound.

“I’m back!” she greeted before dropping the crate between them. Luz takes her seat on a bucket in front of her. Amity manages a small smile while sitting on a small box with her head resting on her hands before resuming to her gloomy expression with a silent sigh. 

“You okay?”

“No, I’m just thrilled with our day being taken up by manual labor while everyone is out there stuffing their faces, browsing shops, and having a good time.” Her sarcastic reply was meant to be directed at Eda, but Luz couldn’t help but blame herself for asking her out last night. They didn’t get to talk about the change of plans since Amity suddenly ran upstairs after realizing how long she held Luz’s face for. Thinking back on it now, it was extremely embarrassing what she did.

Luz’s conscious seems to manifest itself as a wingman and eggs her on to say something to cheer her up. “I know this sets back our plan a bit but we’re not going to be stuck here forever,” Luz explains as she picks through the objects, “If we get everything done soon, Eda will have no choice but to let us go.”

Amity didn’t respond and just points over to the pile of human junk nearly towering over the stand itself with its size behind Luz. A sizeable heap of appliances, clothes, and literal garbage that will likely take them hours to sort through.

Her wingman-conscious elbows her. “W-well, they say Rome wasn’t built in a day but that’s only because they didn’t have us!” she exclaims.

“What the heck is a Rome?”

“It’s a country… I think? And the expression means-nevermind, just trying to look at the bright side.”

Amity manages a smile, “You always do… I didn’t mean to be negative. It’s just hard being stuck in the middle of all this bustling activity with the fair close by. An ideal place for our first date and yet here we are…”

“Yeah…” Luz admitted, “Would have been much nicer playing games and eating junk food than sorting through my people’s… junk.” She pulls out a broken wire coat hanger and fought the instinct of throwing it away and instead tosses it to the pile for sale. “Guess I really blew it for us, huh?”

“Hey, part of this is my fault too. And King’s,” Amity added, “But he’s getting it worse than us. I would rather die than to be in his shoes right now.

“And besides, while I wouldn’t want to count this as our first date, I wouldn’t count it as a bad one either. As long as we’re… you know, still doing stuff together… it’s not so bad.” Amity felt her struggle with picking the right words was akin to rock climbing only to completely slip and plummet at the end there.

She didn’t dare to see Luz’s face now and pretends to be occupied in sorting through the human collections. Carefully identifying the alien objects before her and trying to sort them to their proper categories. Which is not so easy with Eda having the piles labeled as gizmos, whatzits, and thingamabobs.

“Hey, Amity look at me!” She stubbornly raises her head to meet Luz wearing a plastic getup of square-framed glasses, a comically large nose, and a pretty sweet ‘stache. “They weren’t kidding about puberty, that stuff hits you like a _truck_.”

Amity bursts into laughter, covering her mouth in one hand and the other clutching at her sides. Luz furrows her brows, causing another rise to come out of her.

“Take them off! Please!” Amity begs between her laughs. Luz gleefully smiles and obeys as Amity wipes a tear from her eyes. “What is that? Is that supposed to be some human disguise?”

“Sort of, yeah!” Luz nods, “We humans are masters of trickery. Wanna try them on?”

Amity lifts her hand up, “No thank you, I’ll pass.”

“Suit yourself!” Amity watches her toss the pair into a pile and looks back at the objects before her. She never had much interest in human technology before since it was common knowledge about humans being set back by generations without magic. But after experiencing the things Luz showed her and the odd similarities between their world, Amity suddenly finds it fascinating.

She pulls out a red plastic square from the box and inspects it closely. At the bottom of both sides are white dials with a clear plastic screen with a messy black image in the center. Curious, Amity gives it a gentle shake and notices the black image fading away.

“What the?” Amity mutters loud enough for Luz to look up and recognize the tablet in her hands.

“Hey! An Etch-A-Sketch!”

Amity drops the device back into the pile and withdrew her hands, “An itchy _what!?_ ”

“Etch!” Luz clarifies before giggling, “An Etch-A-Sketch!” She picks the tablet back up and gives it a rigorous shake to clear out the image. “Oh man, I used to play with this as a kid. It’s a toy that lets you create line art with these two little knobs here, sort of like drawing but in one endless stroke since you can’t reposition, and one mistake means you have to start all over.”

“That sounds… unnecessarily complicated,” said Amity.

“That’s the point! It’s supposed to be challenging,” Luz explains, “Here, I’ll try drawing you.” She fiddles with the device in hand to get the feeling right then goes to work on trying to capture Amity’s image.

Hesitating whether she could move without disrupting Luz’s drawing, Amity looks between the stalls to the outside area where customers are seen browsing through. Envious of their freedom to enjoy themselves. Even if it was going to take a while, the thought of them dating eventually fills her with a nauseating feeling of excitement. It takes so much out of her to keep her face from wearing that giddiness.

“Done!” Luz proudly declared. Amity turns back to see the girl carefully handing the tablet over to her like she’s presenting a gift to royalty. “Your portrait, madam.”

 _Silly_. Amity smiles and takes the tablet back and gently turn it over to see the work for herself. She pauses at the rough image of herself that is close-up on her face. The head and hair are pretty good, but the facial details are way off thanks to the lines connecting between them.

Luz expected the reaction and chuckles, “Sorry, but it has been a while since I held one before.”

“Why a unibrow?” Amity mutters in a monotone.

“I wasn’t thinking when I tried doing the eyebrows!” Luz cries, “But if you look at it in a different way, we can say its your evil twin, Enmity!”

That got a laugh out of her. “Enmity?” Amity repeated, “You seem rather quick on the name.”

“I been told it’s a talent of mine, and the idea of fighting your evil half is really cool. Like that part in the Good Witch Azura when she battles against Darkzura!”

“Oh yeah, when she entered the Cavern of Reflection and had to face her manifestation of her bottled fears and emotions. Ah, that fight was amazing. And for Azura to end it peacefully by accepting her other half was such a touching moment.”

“I know right!” Luz exclaims. Finally, someone who actually acknowledges the brilliant narrative of the series.

“Still, I already got a couple of evil twins at home. I think I’ll pass.” Amity gently places the tablet next to her seat and goes back to work. Admittedly a little eager to see what else Luz can share about her world.

But what to pick, she wonders. Almost everything in the box just about looks as odd as the next… except for what clearly appears to be a book wedged to the side. Amity picks at it while Luz plays with a bundle of intertwined dead snakes (cables) and manages to pull it out. On the cover, it reads _“Spanish Dictionary.”_

Spanish? Wasn’t that the name of the human dialect Luz occasionally speaks in?

“Man!” Amity quickly hides the book in her bag next to her as Luz suddenly cries out while finding herself entangled in a nest of snakes, “I swear these things have a mind of their own!”

“What do you humans do with those things?”

“Pretty much everything, nowadays. I can’t go too much into detail but let’s just say we humans found a way to harness power without the use of magic.” Luz gives up on salvaging what she could out of the bundle and just tosses them away. She takes another look back inside and notice a familiar piece of clothing.

“Oh my gosh, no way!” Luz eagerly digs through the contents and pulls out a dirty sweater with the same design as she owns only with a pink color instead of blue. “Another cat-ear hoodie! Now why would anyone throw this away over loose threads and a few tears? I’ll fix you up once we go home.”

“Stealing from your teacher, are we?” Amity teases while making sure the dictionary stays well hidden in her bag.

Luz quickly presses a finger against her lips. “Shh! You want Eda to tan my hide!? I’m not taking it for myself! I just want to give it some love before she sells it as a rain catcher or something,” she said as she neatly folds the sweater on her lap.

“Your secret is safe with me,” Amity giggles. Feeling a little bold, she slowly then adds “But if you wanted to shop for clothes… you could’ve just waited until our date.”

Luz flusters at the idea of them shopping together for clothes but shakes her head, “T-that sounds fun, but I don’t have much on me right now. I should probably consider asking for an allowance now that I think about it…”

Amity answers a bit too hastily with, “Then I’ll cover for you! I mean, as a gift for our first date. Or whatever you want, you know, if it doesn’t have to be new clothes.”

“Amity Blight,” Luz slyly grins, “Are you trying to spoil me?”

“Pfft!” Amity averts her head to hide her flustered face and vigorously shakes her head at the idea. “What!? Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Are you sure?” Luz says while leaning closer to the girl to get a good look at her. “Because it sounds like someone wants to impress their girlfriend to me…”

Amity suppresses her voice and emits a loud whine. Eda pulls back the curtain and sticks her head out to them, “Hey! I’m not going to forcefully separate you lovebirds but keep the volume on the flirting down to a _zero_. It’s already hard enough for me not to lose my lunch with dealing some of these customer’s breaths!”

The man at the counter hears her and tests his own breath against his hand and cringes. “Eugh… sorry, the doctors said it’s a serious condition and possibly terminal.”

“Lucky for you, my good man, I got just the thing you need.” Eda snaps her fingers and pops a deodorant in her hand. “Human Ice Cream! Never melts and guarantees to eliminate any bad mouth odors. Just for 15 snails.”

The customer uncaps the container and frowns, “Hey, there’s a hair on this one!”

“20 snails.”

“Ah, dang it.”

The girls watch the man drop off his payment just before Eda lets the curtain fall back again. Amity sighs and was about to continue doing her work before receiving a light nudge from Luz.

She gestures Amity to lean closer and whispers, “I just got a great idea! Let’s keep flirting!”

“W-what!?” Amity cries before getting shushed again. She loudly whispers, “ _What_?”

“Hear me out! I been with Eda long enough to know if there’s something either me or King do that bothers her, she just lets us go. If we keep flirting, she’ll have to relent and let us go on our date!”

“I have several problems with this plan!” Amity squeaks.

“Don’t worry! Didn’t you practice for this kind of thing?”

Amity blushes, “You swore to never speak of that again!”

“I’m kidding! They don’t have to be good. The worst they are the better chance we get at annoying Eda!” Luz whispered back, “You do want to go on this date, right?”

She does. And she really hates that she does now. It wasn’t so much the fear of what other repercussion could happen by intentionally annoying the Owl Lady, but more so over the embarrassment of having both her and Luz hearing it.

“You go first!” Amity pleaded. “It’s your idea and I need some prep time!”

“O-okay, that’s fair…” Luz coughs and clears her throat. Doing it on the spot is a different feeling entirely. “Hey, Amity!” she loudly speaks, “Are you from Tennessee?”

“… what’s that?”

“Because you’re the-oh… right, should’ve known that wouldn’t work.” Luz scratches her head as she filters out all the bad lines that has to do with her home world before coming up with another one, “Here’s one! So, Amity. Did it hurt?”

Amity frowns, “Did what hurt?”

She barely could stifle her giggles as she embarrassingly answers with, “You know, when you fell from heaven?”

Luz could hear Eda suddenly letting out a groan and takes it as a success. But what she didn’t expect is to see Amity getting redder and letting out a nervous giggle. For a moment, Luz wondered if it actually had work on her but shrugs it off as just her attempt of suppressing the urge to laugh too.

And that would be the case had it been anyone else. But to hear it from a goofball like Luz felt just as effective to her no matter how lame or terrible it can be. Her brain is like an egg cracked open upon a hot skillet.

“Your turn!”

“H-huh? N-no! I’m not ready yet!”

Luz pouts but she knows better than to push her for it. It’s already too hard to listen to herself using cheesy lines. She needs something fresh. Something gushy enough to make Eda regret living.

“Oh! Hey, Amity, have I shown you this new spell I discovered?” Luz asks as she pulls out a pencil and some papers.

“A new spell?” Amity perks up with intrigue, “What is it?”

Luz begins drawing on the paper between them. First, she puts down a complete circle and adds about three small lines with one at the top, one at the bottom left, and one at the bottom right. She then draws a smaller circle connecting the lines together within and finally adds a small heart in the center.

Amity widens her eyes at the realization as Luz takes the paper and slaps it on her forehead. “A love spell!” she declares, “Uh oh! Looks like it’s working!”

For a moment, Amity could have sworn her heart stopped. Her lips parted but her voice could barely make any coherent words. It was more akin to a sputtering car exhaust.

Luz lifts the paper from her eyes, “Was it that bad?”

“H-how do you just do this stuff on the fly!?” Amity squeals, unable to keep her pitch lower.

“I’m a sucker for romantic antics! I don’t know!”

“Knock it off back there!” shouted Eda.

“Looks like its working!” Luz whispered, “Come on Amity. I can’t do this alone!”

Despite her attempts at stalling, Amity couldn’t focus with her mind going to mush by Luz’s words. So many things her heart wants to say but her super-ego is exhaustively working overtime to keep the flood back.

Finally pressured enough to go into action, Amity shakingly raises her hand. This is it. The moment she knew that would come eventually. “H-hey Luz…” She snaps her fingers and points, “You uh… you like reading Good Witch Azura? Because that’s… pretty cool.”

The curtains suddenly get drawn back with Eda shouting, “ALRIGHT, ENOUGH! You want your stupid date!? Then go! Get out of here! You both disgust me but I fully support and respect your relationship!” Without waiting for either of the girls to move, she pulls out a broom and starts swinging wildly at the girls. Amity bolts off her chair with Luz falling over and runs off on all fours while making scared whines.

Eda watches them disappear as she raises the broom over her head, “You two better have fun now, you hear!? And don’t you dare come back until it starts getting dark!” She huffs and breathes in the air she lost from yelling before hearing the applause of a crowd outside of her stand. Eda turns around and looks at the broom in her hand.

“… Uh, and that’s your live demonstration of the ‘Human Discipline Stick!’ A perfect tool to whip your kids into shape. Only for 40 snails, no refunds, and we’re not liable for any injuries or passive aggressive remarks from your children. Any takers?”

After getting as far away from Eda’s wrath as they could, the two finally came to a stop and leans against a building to catch their breaths before laughing and cheering for their success. “See?” Luz says in between pants, “Didn’t I say it would work out?”

“Yeah…” Amity breathes, “Not sure if I ever want to do that again…”

“I thought it was cute.”

“Shut up…” Luz tries to sneak a glance at Amity’s face as she shies away again and giggles. They are finally free from Eda’s clutches but after the rush they had from running away, the sickening feeling of excitement caught up to them.

“Haha… so I guess we’re officially starting it now?” Luz asks.

Amity felt her legs trembling but manages to stand up straight. “Yeah,” she answers timidly, “If you still want to, that is?”

“I do, yeah!”

“Oh… cool.”

“Yup.”

“Mhm.”

The awkwardness hangs in the between them, both unsure what to do now. Neither of them really has any prior dating experience besides what Amity usually hears from her old friends and Luz seeing what its like through books and television.

Fortunately, Eda’s advice didn’t go to waste as Luz remembers what she said to her. If it’s really just like hanging out with a friend that you happen to like, then it doesn’t have to be treated any different either. Luz musters up her courage and suggests, “You want to head straight to the Fair or look around first?”

“The Fair sounds fun but…” Amity fidgets with her hands at the idea of them walking around in public. Games are nice but doing some sightseeing would provide better opportunities to get to know Luz better. “I rather we take things slow first, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, I don’t mind!” Luz cheerfully answers and pulls onto Amity’s arm to get going. She felt her arm stiffening and sees her head looking down at her hands holding onto her arm. Luz thought she must have overstepped her boundary and let’s go. “Oh, sorry. You prefer we just walk side-by-side?”

“No!” Amity blurted, with red rising in her cheeks. She looks down and offers her hand to Luz and stammers, “T-there’s a lot of people out here so… you know… it’s better we stick t-together this way.”

Watching Amity getting this flustered before her made Luz felt like she really hit a jackpot in this world. Some of her embarrassment seem to rub off on her too as she hesitantly takes her hand into her own. Luz felt the weight of her breathing and silently begs to her own body not to get her hand clammy. “Ready to go?” Luz asks in an almost quiet tone.

Amity nods and follows her out into the streets bustling with many citizens of the Boiling Isles. Finally starting their date together.

~/~

_Okay Luz, don’t panic. You’re just hanging out with a good friend. A pretty girl who somehow likes you enough to tolerate your presence and be seen holding hands in public with. Nothing wrong with that. Just. Don’t. Blow it._

“Are you okay, Luz?”

“Hm?” Luz turns to Amity giving her a concerned look. Despite them holding hands, the two unconsciously maintaining a little more than necessary distance apart. “Oh, I’m fine! Just a little parched, you know. Hehe.”

“We can stop by for some drinks first,” Amity suggested and points to a stand being attended by a lady serving various teas with black pearls inside.

Luz beams, “Ooh, are those bobas? I never did get to try them!”

“Bobas?” Amity looks at the contents in the customer’s drinks. “Oh, you mean those things… wait, are you sure you want that? Despite of everything that happened to you?”

Luz wasn’t sure what Amity meant by that. She probably should inquire about it but the excitement of sucking one of those little beads through the straw got her nearly bouncing in one spot. “Why not? I ain’t afraid of those things hitting my throat. That’s what makes it so fun!”

Amity shrugs as she’s feeling up for it too and walks with her to the line of people. When it’s finally their turn, Luz lets go of her hand to prop herself up the counter to get a good look at the drink’s menu.

“Welcome!” the lady greeted them, “Would you both like to try our special lemonade paunch tea?”

“Lemonade punch? Sure, sounds great!” Luz grins.

Amity raises her hand, “One for me too then.”

The lady collects their payment and brings their cups forward. She spoons a generous helping of pearls into the cups before pouring in the lemonade mixture to the brim. She seals them with lids and pierces both with thick straws and slides to them before ringing up the next customer.

Luz eagerly takes her drink and carefully sips to grab one of the pearls at the bottom. A black bead shoots up the straw and gives her a delightful chewy snack pairing well with the lemonade.

“Mmm, this is great!” Luz smacks her lips, “Not sure why she calls it a lemonade punch, I’m getting more of a tea kind of taste.”

“No, not punch. _Paunch_ ,” Amity corrects her, “You know, the abdomen?”

Luz pauses mid-sip. “The what?”

“… you do realize these black little things are candied spider bellies, right?”

There was a few of them already in her mouth and Luz felt the urge to spit and throw up the other one. But she holds it back with her hand, not wanting to disgust Amity and forces herself to swallow the rest. Her throat felt painful and sent shivers down her spine. Her stomach churns and cringes at the contents it received. After that was done, she lets out an “Aaa… man, vengeance tastes… horribly sweet.”

Amity couldn’t help but to laugh as Luz gingerly dumps her cup into the trash. She did feel guilty for not letting her know and got her a couple of water bottles to chug down. But it did help pulled them out of the awkwardness of starting off their date together as they continue laughing about it together.

The two wanders around the streets, slowly making their way to the Fair while checking and stopping at various shops first. Mostly at some places that serves food, more so to watch the vendors cook instead of ordering.

“Do humans have things like this in your world?” Amity asks.

“Oh yeah! All types of carnivals and street markets! I remember when I was little how I keep pestering my mom to let me eat at nearly ever street food we pass through.” Luz then chuckles at a memory and says, “I finally learned my lesson when I sneaked off and ordered one myself. I spent the rest of the night resting my head on her lap going through the worse stomach pains ever.”

“Did you now?” Amity mused while staring at the seared tentacle on a stick in Luz’s hand.

“What?” Luz takes a bite from it, “I’m moar careful now. Want shome?” Amity fends off the offer with a wave of her hand and watches her dig in. Her parents were the same in forbidding her from eating street food when she was young too. Though she doubts the reasons were entirely the same as Luz’s. Her siblings did try to goad her into eating at one of the more questionable places before.

“Amity!” Luz nudges her with her elbow and points at the clothing/costume store building that has set up an outdoor selection complete with additional fitting room stalls. Luz tosses her stick away and pulls Amity to follow her.

“W-whoa! Hey, what’s got into you?”

Luz stops in front of the selection and starts picking through them. “You ever tried picking out random outfits and throwing them together?” she explains.

“What like that weird tux and skirt combo you had back at Grom?”

“Hey!” sneered Luz, “You said I looked nice!”

“ _And_ weird,” Amity said with a smile and folded arms.

Satisfied with her selection, Luz heads over to the fitting room and dumps them onto the seat. “Well wait till you see this then,” she exclaims before shutting the curtain behind her. Amity waits patiently and could faintly hear Luz struggling with some of the outfits.

After a few minutes later, Luz pulls back the curtains to reveal her attire. On her head sits a white cowboy hat Luz pulled from the human fashion section. Clashing with the black, traditional witch garb that may be two sizes too big for her. Green tights for below with a pair of steel-toed brown boots. Luz holds out her hand to stop for a moment before adorning sunglasses with stripped lenses.

“Pfft!” Amity covers her mouth but couldn’t stop her laughter from getting out. “What the heck is _that_?”

“I’m a Cow-Witch!” Luz tips her hat proudly, “Bringing magic to this lawless land!”

“Cow? Oh, is that what the white and black color is supposed to reference?”

“No, it’s the hat and boots that are-oh,” Luz lowers the glasses her eyes to look in the mirror inside the fitting stall. “Yeah, I guess I can see that.”

“It’s so ugly, get out of that!” Amity giggled.

“Not until you give it a try too!”

“What? Okay, fine. Now hurry up, you’re embarrassing me!”

Luz went back inside to change into her regular attire. Meanwhile, Amity peruse her options. The idea of throwing stuff together to make terrible outfits doesn’t appeal to her even as a joke. Years of maintaining her image to others have instilled that into her. It be nice if she could just be free to pair together with what she wants Luz to see her in instead… or maybe she could.

“Just so we’re clear, I’m free to use anything together, right?” she asks.

“Whatever you want!” Luz calls out, “The sky’s the limit!” She throws back the curtain with the clothes she pulled from just for Amity to suddenly rush in to take the stall for herself. Luz shrugs and goes to return the clothes while waiting for Amity to finish with what she got in store.

“So, what’s your method?” Luz asks, too eager to wait. “Going for something zany or something wacky?”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“I don’t know, is it?”

“It might be… a little different than what you could expect…”

“Ooh,” Luz excitedly taps her fingers together. She does love a good surprise.

Nearly ten minutes have passed, and it became clear that Amity seems to be taking a much longer time than expected. “Is everything alright in there?” inquired Luz.

“S-sorry! I’m just… having second thoughts on this.”

“Hey no worries,” Luz reassures her, “It’s all in the name of fun. No judgement here.”

“Okay… I’m coming out now.” She gingerly pulls the curtain back and reveals herself to Luz whose mind went completely blank. Instead of any funny outfits or silly costumes, Amity went with a summer theme. A white laced dress connected to a pink skirt with floral details complete with a sun hat that should have been on Amity’s head but is being used instead to hide most of her face with only her eyes peeking out.

“W-what do you think?”

“ _Her_ _mosa_ ,” uttered Luz.

“What?”

“What?” Luz blinks before wildly flailing her arms dismissively as her cheeks began to take a brighter color. “Oh! I’m just saying you look good is all! Yeah! Hehe…” It was the compliment she hoped for, but the way Luz reacted after saying that word got Amity feeling suspicious.

“Thanks… I need a minute.” Without warning, Amity rushes to her bag she left on the table and then withdraws back into the fitting room with the curtains shut behind her. Luz stands in bewilderment of what just happened and wondered if she had done or said anything wrong.

Amity silently pulls out the Spanish dictionary and quickly flips through the pages. “ _Her_ _mosa, hermosa, hermosa,_ ” she keeps repeating to herself, desperately keeping the word ingrained into her mind. “Come on! What does it mean!?”

“Hey, Luz!”

“What’s up!”

Amity froze to the familiar sound of those voices outside of the stall. Her sudden interest completely dropped as fear took hold of her completely. The worst possible outcome that could have happened on their date.

“Emira!? Edric!?” Luz exclaims as the Blight twin waves and approaches her.

“Whatcha doing here, cutie?” Emira teased at the blushing human, unaware of causing spite to rise in her little sister hiding in the fitting stall.

“Nothing!” Luz answers immediately, remembering the promise she made to Amity. “What are you two doing here?”

“Believe it or not, staying cooped up in our hotel room is _exhaustively_ boring,” Edric groans while leaning against one of the tables of folded clothes. “Heard the fair’s back in town and figured to give it another chance before the end of our school break.”

“And to check on the little rascal we dumped on you. Sorry about that,” Emira chuckles, “So where is she, anyway?”

“Who?” Luz blurted.

The twins exchange glances at each other and smiles back at Luz assuming it as a joke. “You know, the little firecracker who isn’t and will never be cool as us. Goes to the same year as you. Always looks like she’s bored and got better things to do?” hinted Emira.

“She’s not dead, right?” Edric asks, letting a bit of genuine concern slip from his voice. “Don’t get me wrong, your mentor is totally cool and all, but I still don’t know if she was joking about letting that monster eat us back in the mountains and honestly it keeps me awake at night.”

“Oh, right! Amity! Of course…” Luz nervously chuckles, trying not to glance at the fitting stall she’s in. “Uh, she’s not here! You know her, always missing out on the fun… hehe…”

Emira leans close to Luz and peers into her eyes. Worried that the girl might possess some magical talent of reading people’s emotions, Luz kept her mind filled with nothing trash thoughts like King dancing around in her otter costume.

Emira grins, “Is that so?” Luz nods vigorously, as if that didn’t already give it away.

“Then what is this doing here?” Edric said, revealing the handbag belonging to Amity.

“That’s-! Uh…” Luz frantically glances around trying to think of something to get herself out of this. “… I stole it.”

“Hardcore,” Emira teased before taking the bag from Edric, “But seriously, lying to us on her behalf? Oh Luz, I thought we were friends.”

“Betrayal cuts deep, you know,” chimed Edric.

“It’s nothing personal!” Luz pleaded, “It’s just… she saw you guys coming and ran! Yeah, and don’t bother asking where, I wasn’t able to see since this place is sooo crowded!”

Not a solid lie, but it was believable enough for the twins to buy it. Edric chuckles to himself at the idea of his sister running with her tail between her legs while Emira just clicks her tongue and shakes her head. “Some friend she is, huh? You gave her shelter and food, and yet she didn’t hesitate to leave you behind against a feral pack of twins,” playfully chided Emira.

“It’s not like that…” Luz mutters.

“But no worries, I know a couple of Blights who prefer to hang out with you.” Emira hooks her arm around Luz’s right while Edric takes her left.

“W-wait!” Luz suddenly felt her feet lifted off from the air. “Shouldn’t we go looking for her? Like, separately to cover more ground?”

The twins ponder for a moment together before they both shook their heads and say, “Nah.”

“Come on, Luz, she had you for almost a whole week. Let us have a turn,” pleaded Emira. “If Mittens wants to hang out with you then she should be here and not cowered away from us.”

“But Amity-“

“And away we go!” Edric announces as the twins charges off into the direction of the Fair with Luz held in their arms.

Amity throws back the curtain, resisting the urge to rip them off from their holders. She kicks the leg of a table, ignoring the pain shooting through her foot and groans. It must be the first time in history for someone having their date stolen not just by one but both twins.

Amity has been looking forward to this all night long and they just had to drop in unannounced and drag her girlfriend away.

But what can she do now? Obviously, she’s not going to let them take Luz away from her and waste time on their date. But they’re not simply going to let her shoo them away even if she just asks. With how nosy they are, she be risking a chance of letting them know about their new relationship. And Luz is doing her best to keep it a secret and has no choice but to go along with them.

“Ugh!” Amity screeches. “Out of all the days they could have done this! I just wish there were some way I can get them off my back!” She was about to go and follow them, but someone grabs her by the arm and spun her around to face the employee of the store who grunts and points at her unpurchased clothes. Amity sighs and walks back into the changing stall.

After giving them back the clothes, Amity follows down the path her head deep in thoughts of trying to acquire a plan of strategy to get Luz back without the twins getting involved or a hint of whatever is going on between them.

With nothing coming to mind, she eventually catches up with them as she finds the three over at one of the stands selling various masks. Emira and Edric seems eager to play with them while Luz half-heartedly joins in, still obviously concerned with leaving Amity behind.

Using another stand as a cover for her to get close, Amity tries again to think her method of approach when she suddenly hears someone speaking to her from behind. “Whoa Amity, since when did you take an interest in studying humans?”

“Huh!?” Amity spun around to see Gus crouching next to her and politely waves. “Oh, it’s you!” she exclaims. Gus frowns and folded his arms.

“What?”

“What do you mean ‘what?’ Do you seriously still did not remember my name?”

“Of course, I do!” Amity replied, although a bit unsure. His scowl only deepens as he waits patiently for her to say it. “It’s uh… Gus, right?”

His expression immediately takes a 180 as he grins and says, “You do remember! Sorry for doubting you. What’s up?”

Amity turns back to the masks stand and finds the trio missing. She sighs and stands up from her spot, “Nothing… just sibling trouble.”

“Rough,” Gus nods, “I mean I don’t have brothers or sisters myself, but if its anything like dealing with my illusions then I sympathize with ya.”

“Illusions? Oh, right. Luz said you were in that track…” An idea takes root in her head and springs to life. “That’s right! Gus, I don’t mean to offend or anything, but are you any good with illusions?”

He huffs and crosses his arms, “Am I any _good_? Let me show you something real quick.” Gus gestures Amity to follow him through the stands and across the next plaza where they take cover behind some boxes. He points over to an area where an older man is seen standing with a kid. Amity squints her eyes for a better look before realizing that the kid next to him is a perfect copy of Gus.

“Does that answer your question?” he proudly asks.

“You made a copy of yourself to play hooky with your own dad?”

“Hey, don’t say it like that!” Gus replies offended by the remark. “I love my dad, but he always drags me through a lot of places he likes and tells me nothing but stories about when he was young. I heard Eda stationed her shop somewhere selling human knickknacks, so I had step out to look for it myself. I saw Luz and was about to ask her before I noticed you were hiding.”

“Then this is perfect!” Amity exclaims, “Gus! You mind if I ask a huge favor?”

“Uh… sure, I guess. What’s up?”

“Okay, so me and Luz were in a middle of our date, but I want to keep it a secret from my family. Not that the twins would rat me out, it’s just they’re incredibly annoying. They got to her while I was occupied, and I need some sort of diversion to get her back. If you help me out, I’ll tell you where Eda’s shop is!”

Gus blankly stares back at Amity for a moment before slowly raising his hands between them, “Okay… a lot to digest there. But I’ll start with the main course first: did you just say you two are _dating_?”

Amity realizes her mistake and sucks in her lips, “Uh… no…?”

“I’m pretty sure you did. Otherwise, the rest of what you just said wouldn’t make any sense.”

“Okay, so we are!” Amity squeaks, “What of it!?”

“Hey! I didn’t say anything!” Gus said defensively, “Although it’s kind of sudden. I mean you went from hating her guts to being friends to suddenly live under the same roof and going out with her.”

Amity sighs, “A lot has happened over the week… but yeah, we were going to tell you and Willow. I’m sorry if this makes things weird.”

“Think nothing of it! I think that’s pretty cool,” he swears, “I always been curious on human courting rituals. Luz filled me in by giving me of bunch of these human literature novels. It’s mostly pictures though and reminds me of comic books only you have to read them from right to left. Truly fascinating stuff.”

“So… would you help me?”

“Of course, anything for a friend in need!” Gus answers. He claps his hands and rubs them together. “So, you want me to fool your twins with my illusion magic? I don’t mean to discourage you, but they’re in the same track as me. And they’re not amateurs at the stuff.”

“I know,” Amity replied wearily, having been the victim of all the latest tricks they learn in school. “Fooling them can be hard, but we just need something that can get them away so I can take Luz back. They’re sharper than anyone would give them credit for. So, I understand if you think it won’t be possible-“

“Woah, who said anything about it being impossible?” mused Gus, “I’m just saying normal tricks ain’t gonna cut it. We’ll just create a copy of you and send it to occupy them. They know you can’t cast illusion magic and they wouldn’t have a reason to know I’m helping you. It’s foolproof!”

“Yeah… that could work!”

Gus raised his hand, “Here’s the problem. Creating illusory copies isn’t as simple as it looks. It’s not just a visual trick. Getting the copy to act, respond, and think like the real one is the challenge. It’s easy to copy myself because I’m me. But I don’t know enough about you to get a real sense of who you are. Especially after what I just learned.”

Amity nods remembering how the twins needed to probe Luz on what exactly she fears to even know what to conjure. He can’t just make a copy without knowing much about her, but they don’t have the time to sit down and share her life story. “It’s just the twins we need to fool, what if I just tell you about them? Would that be enough for a copy?”

“That can work too! Good thinking!” Gus gives her a thumbs up. “We can start now, but if we want this to really work then you have to really be honest with your feelings towards them so I can get a clear idea of what they are to you. We only got one shot of this, after all.”

Amity isn’t admittedly comfortable about her needing to divulge her relations with her siblings. Still, it is for the sake of their date and there is no way she’s going to give them a ghost of a chance to find out about it. At least she doesn’t have to flirt on the spot again.

“Well to start, they’re both incredibly annoying. Emira can be stuck-up and even pushy, and Edric can get melodramatic. They’re nothing but a bunch of slackers who have no idea how lucky they are to be able to get away with their antics while I have to work hard. The only focus they ever put in their lives is finding ways to get under my skin and remember what days to wear their matching outfits!”

Gus is starting not to feel comfortable about this either. Any thoughts he had about having siblings of his own doesn’t seem so appealing to him now. “Okay… good stuff, good stuff… but is there also anything _positive_ you see in them? Remember, we need to be as accurate as we can,” he reminded her.

Maybe flirting on the spot wasn’t the most painful thing she has to do today. Amity crosses her arms and regrettably gives in with a sigh, “I guess if I had to admit something… they can be helpful at times. And maybe supportive in their own way. I don’t exactly… hate them for that…”

Gus slyly smiles at her which prompted a sharp “Shut up” from Amity’s mouth.

He laughs, “I think I got enough to go on now. Stand still for a sec!” Gus kneels to Amity’s feet and began drawing a magic circle around her. After connecting it together, he informs her to step off and then claps his hands. The glyph floats upwards, leaving a column of light behind where a shadowy figure can be seen taking form inside.

The glyph breaks and the light fades, revealing the figure to be the perfect replica of Amity. Gus digs his hand into his pocket full of confetti Luz gave him and tosses it into the air between them. “Tadaa!” he proudly exclaims, “Luz said humans love adding fanfare to their works.”

Amity steps up to her Copy and gives it a scrutinizing look. “Impressive,” she remarks, “She said you were good, but this is something else.”

“Aw, thanks,” Gus grins at the compliment. “Just so you know, the Copy should be able to possess the same memories as you. It can’t inherit any knew ones you acquire while it is out. But what we need to make sure is its personality. So go on, ask it any questions.”

“Alright,” Amity glances at the Copy with folded arms to which it mimics. “Back in sixth grade when Boscha refused to speak with me for three days. What happened?”

“She was getting on your nerves, so you tricked her into believing the wall was a secret portal to a gift shop during our field trip to the Coven Museum where she slammed her face into it in front of the class.” The Copy grins, “It was pretty funny.”

Amity chuckles to herself, “It really was.”

“Hardcore,” nodded Gus.

“Seems like its working fine to me,” Amity noted, “Even got my mannerisms down to a T.”

“I guess so, but we should probably do more tests before we-“

“No time!” Amity beckons both to follow her to find Luz and the twins again. “Eda says to come back once it starts getting dark, I’m not wasting anymore daylight!”

“But Amity-“

“Oh, right!” Amity tears a scrap of paper from a flyer hanging on a pole and writes down the address to Eda’s store. She hands it to Gus and says, “Thanks for all your help. Like we promised.”

Gus abandons all thoughts as the excitement of checking out human treasures completely takes over. With a heartfelt salute, Gus leaves her with the clone and runs off.

Amity takes the Copy with her and cautiously wonders the streets looking for them. They finally come across the group again, this time stopping at a Cosmetics stand where they watch Emira walking with Luz with bags in hand with Edric in tow looking rather disinterested.

“Have you considered letting your hair grow out?” Emira asks while carefully lifting a tuft of Luz’s hair and letting it fall back.

Luz instinctively reaches her head and smooths it out with a shaky smile, “O-oh, no, I tried it’s… it’s not for me.”

“That’s a shame,” Emira said, disappointedly. “Guess you’re like our sister. She prefers short hair.”

“Really?”

“Hey, Luz!” Edric sticks his head between the two, desperately trying to include himself. “Dare me to swallow this nail polish?”

Emira slaps his hand to let go of her bag, “Ed! This has extracted serpent venom! That stuff can burn a hole through your stomach! And if it doesn’t kill you, I’ll be sure to finish the job if I ever catch you wasting my products like that!”

“Okay, okay, put the claws away,” Edric mumbles while caressing his aching hand.

“There you are.”

The group all turns to see Amity approaching them with a sharp irritated look directed at the twins. Luz felt her anxiety level shot up and timidly waves at her.

“Speak of the devil,” Emira waves to her little sister while wrapping her other arm around Luz’s head. “Sorry for stealing your girlfriend away. Heard you ran off the moment we showed up.”

“A-ah!” Luz cries out at the mention of the word.

“Grow up,” Amity snaps, “She’s not my girlfriend. And I didn’t ‘ran,’ I just needed to use the bathroom.”

Even though Luz knows she said it to protect their secret, she still can’t help but felt the sharp sting in her heart. Almost as if Emira read the pain Luz just felt there she says, “Oh don’t listen to her, Luz. It’s not your fault Mittens have poor taste.”

“Is there something you want?” Amity growls.

“We just want to check up on you,” Edric replied. “You know, since we been convincing mom and dad where you were while you’re having fun.”

“It’s been so boring without you,” Emira feigned a yawn. “We’re just worried about you.”

“Sure, you are,” Amity said, rolling her eyes. “Any updates about the house?”

“Oh yeah, dad said he got the call-“

“Good, then let’s speak over here,” Amity interrupted and starts walking off for them to follow.

“What’s wrong with here?” Emira asks.

Amity draws out a tired sigh and glares at them, “Do you _really_ want everyone in public to know our house has been infested? You know what mom will do if she hears about it from someone else.”

The twins reluctantly glance at each other and nods, knowing full well of the consequences. Edric pats Luz’s shoulder on the way out while Emira ruffles her hair, “We’ll be back in a sec. Family matters.”

“Okay!” Luz nods, “That’s cool, I’ll just… stand here then.” She watches them disappear between the stands and the crowd of people. Nervously checking her bag and straightening out her hair again, Luz picks up a hushed sound directed to her and turns around to see Amity waving at her.

“Wha-Amity!?” Luz looks back to where the other took the twins and points down the path with one hand while pointing the other at her. “But how did-didn’t you-?”

“It’s called ‘magic,’ you doofus,” giggled Amity, walking over to her.

“Ohhh right, that is sort of our thing here…” Luz nods feeling foolish. “Wait, you seriously cloned yourself to get rid of them?”

“I didn’t want them interrupting our date.”

“Amity Blight,” Luz places her hands on her hips, “I didn’t know you have a mischievous side.”

“If you had to bear with those two for all of your life, you’ll tend to pick up a trick or two.” Amity confidently takes Luz’s hand. Her spirits fueled by pulling the wool over the twins’ eyes and eager to resume their date. “Come on, let’s go before they see us!”

Luz looks down at her bag from the cosmetics stand and tugs her arm back, “Hold on! I, uh… got you something.”

Amity pauses in her steps and looks back with stars in her eyes, “You did?”

She hands the bag over to her and anxiously scratches her cheek, “Your siblings helped pay for it. Don’t worry, I didn’t say it was for you. Emira insisted to get me something. I-I figured to make it a gift to celebrate our first date together. I don’t like using this stuff, not that I’m trying to dump them onto you!”

“That’s so sweet of you! Thank you, L-“ Amity opens the bag and felt her words getting caught in her throat

Luz doesn’t notice as she’s too flustered to see her reaction. “I didn’t know what to get you, so I figured to go with something you’re familiar with. They were practically giving those away and-Amity?” She finally looks up and notices her expression wasn’t anything she hoped it would be.

Not even a hint of disgust or anger can be seen on her face. Luz never seen Amity so visibly shocked and lost in those eyes that is staring down at the Hair Dying kit with a couple of green bottles. She calls out to her again, “Amity?”

“Huh?” Amity looks up and realizes it too late to play it off as Luz looks at her with concern.

“Do you not like it?”

“I…” Amity looks back down at the gift, feeling with her decision before handing it back to her. “I don’t, I’m sorry.”

“Is it a bad brand?”

“No, it’s…” Amity sighs, figuring it’s time to come clean about it. She fidgets with her hair and explains, “I didn’t do this to myself… and it wasn’t a choice.”

“What do you mean by choice? Who would-“ The image of parents back in Willow’s mind and her nightmares flashes through her head. Piecing it together, her consciousness manifests itself and whispers “Good job, you blew it.”

“ _Dios mio!”_ Luz cries, “Amity, I’m sorry! I didn’t know-“

“No, you wouldn’t,” she calmly replies. “It’s not your fault. I know you only meant well. It’s very sweet of you to consider giving me something. I mean it.”

At least she doesn’t hate her. Luz feels relieved of that but thinking about the times how much she liked her hair being similar to Azura seems so insensitive now. Neither of the twins said anything when she picked out the dyes for herself. Were they aware of Amity’s feelings about it at all? Or did they keep quiet, not wanting to share that without her consent?

Amity held onto Luz with both hands and pulls on it. “Hey, I’m serious, it’s alright. I’m not going to hold it against you. Let’s just forget about it and have fun at the Fair. We did go on this date for us to know each other, right?”

Luz manages a smile for her and nods, “Yeah, we did, didn’t we? We better get going before they get back.”

Amity agrees and walks Luz over to the direction of the Fair. Luz gets absorbed in thought and silently beats herself for doing something so stupid before feeling the pressure of Amity’s grip tightening for her attention.

“You know… I never did get to tell anyone about it,” Amity began without facing her. “There wasn’t anyone who I considered close enough or even cared enough to share it with. If it had to be anyone… I’m glad it was you.”

Luz had been afraid of doing anything to harm their relationship or do anything that would cause Amity to doubt her feelings. She had been so worried that she forgotten the reason why she likes Amity so much. Whether it is to distract her from these worries and fears or to support her through the conflicts in her life, Luz wants to keep that smile of hers.

She presses close to Amity and says, “And I’m glad to be with you.” Amity responds back with a small whining sound earning a giggle from Luz.

Watching them running off together from the distance, the Copy glares at the two until they disappear before hearing Amity’s name directed at her being called from the twins. “A date, huh?” she turns to leave.

“Wouldn’t that be nice?”


	13. Fifth Day, Part 2

When the Fair first came to town, Amity first hoped to somehow go with Luz. It would have been the perfect start of the school break, but her fear and uncertainty of whether if Luz would even feel the same kept her from making the first step. It was then she plans to contact and invite Willow first then hopefully have her reach out to Luz and ask her out on her stead.

But when she was awoken by Edric’s high pitch scream from encountering the Skullscreamer in the bathroom, the entire day was a blur of suddenly packing up their belongings, booking a hotel, and getting stuck in a room next to the twins with an adjacent door connecting between them. Her personal plan was entirely forgotten as she spent the day miserably working on her homework while trying to block out her surroundings before the twins finally egged her on to go to check out the amusement park with them.

Where Luz, for a reason she has yet to get an answer from, crashed into her from the sky. Now here they are. Returning to the place again with their hands locked together on their first date.

“Ooh, I’m so excited to see the rides!” Luz gleefully exclaims.

“You haven’t been on one yet?”

Luz shook her head, “Nope, King couldn’t meet any of the height requirements, so we played a bunch of games instead. I didn’t want to leave him behind.” Nor let him make a scene about how the employees are conspiring against him and all short beings again. It took her a while to calm him down after he manages to rally an impressive number of supporters before ordering them to attack.

They both waited in line to the small booth where they can get their tickets for the amusement rides. Amity felt her arm moving with Luz bouncing up and down in her steps. It’s cute to see her goofing around but the attention she’s drawing is slowly poking holes through Amity’s stonewall-like expression. She feels more like a parent taking their kid out than a girlfriend.

In a poor attempt to hide herself by merely looking away with her other hand raised in front of her face, Amity took notice of one of the closer rides just finishing it’s run to let the riders out. “No way! They actually got it!” exclaimed Amity.

Luz perks up at her words and looks over to where Amity is pointing. All excitement and joy on her face cracks like a porcelain mask revealing the bug-eyed look of shock. “What the heck is that?” Luz breathes.

Amity fails to notice Luz’s personality shift as she is brimming with her inner child spirit. A joyous feeling that has been long buried but now brought to life with her inner desire fueled by the rush of dating. “It’s a Crawler Coaster! One of the fastest rides in the Boiling Isles!” Amity finally turns to notice Luz’s dismay and frowns. “Are you not a fan of fast rides?”

Luz shakes her head and says, “No, it’s just… I never ridden one that’s… _alive_.”

The Boiling Aisles had its share of interesting and magical rides that bears uncanny resemblance to the ones back in her home world, but the instead of a train the Crawler Coaster has a large, centipede-like creature strapped onto the railroads with seats attached onto its carapace. The attendant helps the last customer into their ride then approaches the front where the creature’s head is at and jabs it hard with a stick to make it go forward. The creature screeches and charges off with the people on its back, interestingly recreating the sound of a real roller coaster with its many legs scattering across the tracks.

“I’m starting to think this world has something against me,” Luz murmured.

“Next in the line, please.”

“Luz, that’s us.” Amity pulls the girl up forward to the counter who is still staring at the giant monster quickly making its rounds through the tracks with incredible speed.

As Amity exchanges her card to the Attendant, he asks “Are you two together?”

“O-oh, uh yeah…” Amity blushes, “Just recently. It’s been a couple of days and this is our first time-“

“I was talking about the payment,” the man interrupted and points at her card then to them. Amity would feel more comfortable dragging her nails across a chalkboard than to be standing here right now. She slowly nods her tomato head at the man. Thankfully, Luz is too traumatized by the monster to take notice of what happened.

“So!” Amity breaks her out of the trance, desperately trying to fill the awkward silence. “You said you have fairs back at your home?”

“Huh? Yeah! They’re almost everywhere if you knew where to look and they have tons of fun rides!” Luz exclaims, “But they were crazy expensive, and I only got to go a few times when I was smaller. It’s causes of that I missed out on all the crazy fast ones.”

“I don’t know how fast you humans can go without magic, but you’re in luck today!” Amity swears, “The Crawler Coaster’s initial speed is over one hundred miles per hour! The best part is when it gets restless and leaps across the tracks. Maybe we’ll get lucky!”

“Wow! That sounds… incredibly dangerous!” Luz said with a forced smile. “But uh… you know what I haven’t been able to ride at all? Merry Go ‘Rounds! You have that, right?”

Amity finally realizes it and smiles mischievously, “Could it be? My ‘Fearless Champion’ who has fought the incarnation of fears and nightmares is afraid of heights?”

Oh, it’s not the heights that’s bothering her. But hearing her self-proclaimed title being used against her as a challenge stirs Luz’s spirit. “Who? Me? Pfft, nah of course I’m not afraid. I can take on whatever this place throw at me.”

“Is that so?” Amity sneers, “Then let’s start with that one, since you been eyeing it all day.”

Luz should have seen that coming but she’s not going to let it faze her. Lot of things in the Boiling Isles seem terrifying at first. She faced a lot of monsters that would have reduced her to a quivering puddle of tears and yet she stands strong until nighttime when she can finally process over how close she came to dying and question the mortality of her life. But she’s still alive, so there’s that.

Not to mention the line to the coaster is pretty long. Plenty of time for Luz to get her bearings together before they have to go.

“Like I said, no problem!” Luz swore. She then timidly adds with, “But… just so you know if we sit next to each other, I might get a little… _clingy_.”

“Here’s your tickets,” the man finally slides them over to Amity but gets his hand caught by her sudden grip. He freezes at the sight of her wide eyes and uncanny smile.

“On second thought, can you upgrade us to Fast Passes?”

“Huh?” Luz blinks, and suddenly found herself seated onto the giant creature next to Amity while the attendant to the ride lowers the safety bar.

“Remember to remain all arms, legs, and whatever appendages you have inside the seats,” announced the attendant. He pulls out a green basket and goes to each of the carts again. “Keep all personal belongings well tucked in your pockets. If you have any loose items or handbags please place it in this basket now, you’ll be able to collect them again after. Also, it’s nearly lunchtime for Ol’ Betty here. So please keep the screaming down if you can. The excitement may trigger her predator instincts and we do not want a repeat of last year.”

Nothing about that last part put Luz at ease. “Is that a joke? Please tell me it’s a joke. He’s not answering me! Amity is he joking!?”

“You really are scared, huh?” Despite the small satisfaction she got as revenge for being teased at, it didn’t last long as Amity begin seeing Luz like a quivering puppy with her shaking hands holding onto the safety bar. Amity extends her arm towards her and offers, “Here, I don’t mind if you hold onto me-“

The attendant interrupts with, “Everyone ready!?” His question was answered with a chorus of cheers, giving him the signal to start the ride by jabbing Betty with the stick. The creature rears its head back and emits an awful screech causing Luz to jump and wrap her arms around Amity tight.

The creature surges forward through the tracks with its many legs scattering on the iron rails for support. The momentum it started with threw everyone back against their seats while it only continues to move even faster. Most of the riders couldn’t hold back their shouts as the creature begins to coil around the tracks like a snail wrapping around a branch without losing its speed.

Luz’s terrified scream shifts into excitement with her arms still wrapped around Amity who remains frozen and silent through the entire ride. With just halfway through the tracks, the creature decides to leap across to the next track instead of taking the upcoming right curve. It’s foremost body grasps onto the rails with its far end swaying off-course with the few riders screaming in fear before it manages to align itself again and safely continues with everyone still inside.

The attendant yawns and sets up the roadblock to stop the creature from going any further as it came back to the station. “Everyone still here?” He makes a quick headcount and nods, “Great! Didn’t feel like writing any reports today. Thank you for riding the Crawler Coaster!”

“That turn out to be better than I thought,” Luz said while letting go of Amity, “Sorry about that! Guess I was just scared for nothing. I’m impress with how you held yourself there!”

“Huh?” Amity finally breaks out of her state and blinks at the question. She glances at the other riders getting off in confusion as their own safety bar lifts. “Why is everyone leaving?”

“Uh, because the ride is over?” Luz replied, unsure if she’s joking or not.

“It has!?” Amity replies, incredulously. She completely zoned out the entire experience while Luz was holding onto her. She can’t even recall Luz holding onto her like she had planned from the beginning. “Then let’s go again! The ride was too fast anyway!”

The attendant overheard them as he goes to assist them out of the car and clicks his tongue at them, “Sorry, little lady. Fast passes are only valid on first visits, you’ll have to wait in the back of the line like everyone else if you want to go again.” He points over to the large line of people waiting to get on. It would be about an hour before they get to have another go.

Amity lets out a groan as Luz gets off first and helps her out of the car. “I don’t mind going again, if you want,” Luz offered.

“No, it’s alright. We got other rides to see first.” The attendant watches them leave and was about to call up the next set of people before hearing a loud, slurping sound. He turns around to see the creature’s mouth suckling on one of the riders whose feet are sticking out.

“Betty! What’s in your mouth? Drop it! Drop it right now!”

~/~

“So, what the heck do people do in dates?” King swings his legs from the counter next to Eda while watching the crowd moving through the streets. Finally, able to take a break from being in the middle of that mess with the heavy signs.

Eda blows her lips in boredom after the activity of her stand went down to its usual pace and rests her head one hand. “Well, speaking from my experience, first dates are kind of a way to test the waters. See if the relationship has any ground to stand on and if the person is actually as fun to be with for a while. Though most of the time, it’s just a free meal ticket for me.”

King perks up at the last part, “Wait, they bribe you with free food to hang out with them for a day?”

“Basically,” Eda nods, “Among other things too. Like jewelry, clothes, the loose teeth of your last ex-boyfriend that you didn’t even requested, all sorts of things if you’re lucky.” She then chuckles to herself remembering her talk with Amity that night. “Our little girl hit the big jackpot stealing the heart of that Blight kid. If she plays her cards right, Luz probably wouldn’t have to work for a day in her life. But knowing her, the thought of taking advantage of Amity’s wealth won’t even cross her mind. Such a waste.”

“Luz stole Amity’s heart from her!?” King said incredulously, “That is _awesome!_ Maybe I should give this dating thing a try.”

That gave Eda a real good laugh, “Trust me, it’s not as glamorous as you think, pal. But who knows, you’re already a real head-turner.”

“Obviously, I’m a one-of-a-kind, sister,” he proudly declared.

“But in all seriousness, those two are probably just being a couple of giggling, awkward flirts right now. What they have is purer than any type of relationship I can land,” Eda yawns. “I’m happy for them… just as long as they keep that happiness somewhere else.”

With nothing else to do now, Eda decides to take out her earnings of the day to count up the profits. Owlbert floats down from the head of the stand to help lift the sack for her, despite struggling to lift it above the counter. King eyes the bags and looks at her, “You know… it’s been a while since we played Hexes hold’em…”

Eda doesn’t bother to look up as she takes count before saying, “That’s because you threw a hissy fit about starting with the worst hand and drawing bad cards.”

“It’s different now!” he exclaims, “I been practicing a lot since last time. I might even be better than you.”

“Ha!” Eda snorts, “In your dreams, maybe. You couldn’t beat Owlbert if he was going easy on you.” The little Palisman hoots and nods in agreement.

“I can too!”

“Then let’s wager for it.” Eda holds up one of the sacks of snails and shakes it in front of him. “You beat Owlbert, and I’ll give you thirty percent of our earnings. But if he wins…”

“What? I owe _him_ snails?” King scoffs, “What does an owl need money for? A bigger nest? And besides, I’m broke.”

“I know,” Eda rolls her eyes. She snaps her fingers for Owlbert to fly off to behind the stand and comes back with a rolled-up cloth. He drops it onto her hand, and she whips it out to unfold and reveals it to be a pink baby pajama. “If you lose, you’ll have to wear _this_!”

King stares at the horrid attire and gulps. His confidence renewed now with his integrity on the line, he gives Owlbert a challenging glare and says, “Let’s do it!”

Owlbert gestures to him with his wing and hoots, “ _Bring it on_.”

~/~

“Thank you for coming to my shop,” said the old lady as she sits Luz down next to her table of colorful face paints. After a few rides, Amity and Luz decided to take a little break by exploring the grounds until they came across the small booth where Luz excitedly begged to go to. “Will you be joining in after?” she asks Amity.

“No, thank you. I’ll just wait here if you don’t mind.”

“Suit yourself,” the short lady hops onto her stool and scoots closer to Luz before prepping her station. “Now, what type of face do you want me to make, dear?”

“An otter, please!” Luz grins, “But just the features, if you don’t mind.”

“I never heard of a ‘otter’ but I do know how to make a Snaggleback face. Would you like that instead?”

“Mmm… I kind of prefer an otter, to be honest.”

The old lady clicks her tongue and mutters, “Ai… alright, just describe it to me and I’ll try my best. First lets clean this beautiful face of yours, ah?” Luz let the lady guide her up with wrinkled, but **surprisingly** , strong hands. She utters a whine as the lady’s bony fingers digs into her cheeks while she lightly dabs a wet sponge over them.

“So, what does this ‘Otter’ look like?”

“Well, it has a cute button-like nose.”

“I see… like a dog?”

“Yeah! People like to call them sea puppies!”

“It’s an aquatic creature? So, it has gills.”

“Nope, it’s a mammal.”

“No gills? Ai…”

“But it does have whiskers!”

“Whiskers too?” The painter clicks her tongue, “An abomination… okay, I think I got it. Now hold still!”

Luz clenches her teeth as the lady’s fingers digs into her skin again. Amity stifles a giggle seeing her human making exaggerated faces. The painter casts one eye at her before focusing back to Luz as she carefully goes to work.

“Are you two together?” Amity’s giggles get caught in her throat and nearly chokes her by the sudden question. She guzzles down a water bottle to relieve it but uses more so as a diversion in her hesitation to answer thanks to her last mistake.

Luz tries to fill in for her by answering herself. “Just recently! This is actual our-ow!”

The painter smacks Luz with her butt end of the brush and chastises her, “Hold still! I’m talking to the green one! Not you!”

 _Sorry_ , Luz answers with an apologetic whine.

“It’s our first date,” Amity finally lets out, still feeling the blood rushing to her face. “But we’re just taking it easy and enjoying the place.”

“Oho, I see! I see!” the painter muses, “How adorable! I hope all goes well for you two. Why I remember when I was young and in love…” The lady leans back as she trails off like she’s about to delve into a story but said nothing before resuming back to her work. Everyone was silent for a moment before Luz couldn’t fight her curiosity tries to ask before getting smacked with the brush again for moving.

“Okay, I think I’m done. Is this what you’re looking for?” The lady holds a mirror in front of Luz showing the painted features of an otter face.

Luz beams, “That’s it! Thank you, it looks great! What do you think Amity?”

Perhaps there was something magical in the paints the lady used because Amity finds it incredibly hard to be captivated by silly paint job. She didn’t respond to Luz calling to her name for a while as she’s caught in a daydream of a group of otters swimming around with Luz popping out in her costume with a fish in her mouth. Nature can be so adorable.

“I think your girlfriend broke,” said the painter.

“She’s been spacing out a lot lately, I hope she’s feeling okay.” Luz reaches for Amity and shook her arm while calling her name. “Amity? Earth to-er, Boiling Isles to Amity?”

“I’M AMITY!” the girl suddenly cries as she gets slingshot back to reality. She blinks and looks at the two people giving her strange gazes. She forces a cough and says, “Sorry, what was the question again?”

No one got a chance to reply before a group of people rushes by them with a few trailing behind. “Whoa! What’s going on?” Luz asks while Amity lets out a sigh of relief on the topic change.

“Ohh, looks like the event is about to begin. Our fair likes to hold competitions and shows in the center plaza. You should check it out before getting on those big rides,” suggested the painter.

“I do like live shows!” Luz said as she hops off her chair and drops a few snails on the lady’s table. She takes Amity by the arm and hurriedly pulls her to the commotion. “Let’s go check it out, Amity!”

“Okay! Okay! Just-stop looking at me!” Amity squeals, still unable to look at Luz with the cute decals on her face.

The painter waves them goodbye as they head out and scoffs. “Puppies of the sea… if you don’t have gills then what are you doing in the water? Ai…”

The girls head over to the plaza where a large crowd has gathered. They see a man standing on a raised platform in the center but couldn’t make out what the show was about. Keeping their hands locked together to not lose each other, much to Amity’s anxiety, they worm their way through until they got close enough to see a large table with a few people sitting with a ridiculous number of severed tentacles in a bowl.

“Come one, come all! To the annual eating competition! Today, we picked out four out of five contestants to try and eat as much of these delicious, probably still alive, tentacles! Whoever manages to eat the most without losing their stomach wins a free group pass to next year’s fair! But before we could get started, we still have room for one more volunteer! Any takers?”

Many hands raised to the air as the announcer takes his time to look over the crowd. Amity rolls her eyes as she doesn’t bother to volunteer knowing this is just a staged show. They usually doctored the stuff to be more filling than it needs to be. It’s a classic show scam. Only an idiot would try to fight this uphill battle.

“You there! The girl with the round ears! Step right up!”

“Yes!” Luz cries.

Wait, that’s _her_ idiot!

Amity pulls Luz back before she goes to join the stage, “Luz! These competitions are usually rigged! Even if you have a chance to beat them, you’ll end up too sick to go more rides!”

“It’ll be okay! My stomach surprisingly gotten stronger after living off of this world’s food. I think it might even gotten mutated…” Luz murmurs the last bit, a little freaked out at the idea. Her spirit then took a dive as she assumes what Amity is feeling and says, “Oh, you probably would be embarrassed to see me binge eating in public…”

“Luz, I seen how you eat in the school’s cafeteria. You’re like a human black hole,” Amity giggles.

“Rude!” Luz exclaims. Feeling embarrassed for being called out like that but knowing her to still find her charming despite that really touched her. The announcer impatiently calls out to Luz again. Amity sighs and nudges her forward, “Go ahead, you goof.”

“Wish me luck!” Luz snakes her way through the crowd before emerging out on stage and takes her seat between the other contestants. The announcer begins with a countdown from five before allowing them to start. He loudly begins with the crowd joining in with “four… three… two… one… GO!”

Amity’s timid cheer easily gets drowned out in the sea of screaming onlookers as all contestants digs in. Luz starts off strong, barely keeping pace with the fastest eater on her right while the rest falls behind. Despite her being supportive in Luz joining in, Amity is admittedly reluctant to cheer for her date. Even if she tried, most of the crowd is favoring the other eater and not her.

“Go get em, Luz!” boomed a familiar voice next to her. Amity looks up to notice Eda standing next to her with a large satchel strapped over her shoulder.

“Eda!?” Amity cries, “What are you doing here?”

“What, you think I’m going to let you girls run off without my supervision?” Amity blushes, wondering how much she saw of them before the Owl Lady laughs and says, “Kidding! I was just making my visit to Morton’s shop before I been told about a competition happening here. Didn’t expect to see my student up there but man is she nailing it!”

Eda looks down at Amity and lightly elbows her, “C’mon! You gotta cheer louder than that if you want her to hear you. Put your back into it!”

“Oh… I’m sure she’s doing fine-“

“Uh oh! Looks like Round Ears is falling behind! Looks like she’ll need some support if she wants to win this!”

Amity can feel Eda’s ‘I told you so’ gaze on her and groans. “Alright fine…”

Luz punches her chest feeling her stomach slowing down. The food before her seems endless and is taking noticeably longer for her to chew. She thought about calling it quits now before she heard her name being called by Eda and Amity. Luz looks up to see Amity poking her head amongst the crowd with her Abomination hoisting her up.

Feeling the admiration rebuilding her spirits, Luz picks up her speed and shreds the food away with greater intensity causing the leading eater to recoil as bits of food starts flying in his direction.

“Whoa! Looks like Round Ears is unleashing her potential! It’s disgusting! And yet… I can’t look away!”

Amity lost herself in cheering for Luz as she manages to outpace the lead. The crowd shifts their cheering to her although only chanting “Round Ears!” and not her real name. But the effect is just the same as Luz is instilled with vigorous energy while the other competitors start dropping like flies.

With the last eater throwing in the towel, the crowd explodes as the announcer declares Luz to be the winner. Amity excitedly throws up her arms with her Abomination doing the same in celebration. Eda conjures a scrying eye to fly up close and emits a camera-like flash to capture the moment. The eye flies back to her where she slaps the back of it to spit out an image of Luz still munching away at the food.

“If only there was betting going on, she’d be making me real proud of her. Still, not bad for a human.” Eda chuckles and pocketed the photo before turning to Amity as she climbs down from her golem. “I’m gonna head back now before you girls resume your awkward talks and painful flirting again.” Amity glares at the witch as she disappears through the cheering crowd.

Even though it means they won’t be going on any rides for a while, Amity is genuinely impressed with how Luz manages to pack in so much food. It would explain her explosive energy.

As the crowd starts to disperse, Amity reaches for her bag as she’s about to join her on the stage to get her some water before noticing it absent from her arm. “What? Where did…” Amity glances around her, trying to remember if she had placed it on the ground when she had her Abomination riding on its shoulders. But her purse is nowhere to be seen.

Panic starts to set in as she glances around the crowd, wondering if anyone had snatched it from her. Luz carefully rises out of her seat with her stomach feeling swollen and looks down to see Amity frantically looking around. It took her a minute to realize that she must be looking for her handbag as she doesn’t see one on her.

“Amity!” The girl turns to see Luz pointing over to the right and follows it to spot a figure wearing a hood over their head running away in the distance. Amity recognized the object in the person’s hand to be the missing handbag.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going with that!?” Amity angrily takes off to chase down the perp.

Unaware of the theft going on, the announcer stands in Luz’s way offering the free pass coupon and a handshake. “Here is your reward, ma’am! Say, I know this may be strange to ask, but we never had a human in our fair before. Would you be interested in volunteering in the Freakshow-I mean, _Talent show_?”

Luz swipes the coupon from the man and leaps off the platform while shouting, “Not now, sorry!”

The hooded figure looks back and sees Amity quickly closing the distance between. Just as she felt sure that she’s about to grab the person, they suddenly quickened their own pace and pushes some person towards her.

Amity conjures her Abomination to safely grab the person from falling and move them out of the way to resume her chase unimpeded. “The longer this chase goes on, the worst it’s going to get for you!” Amity warns them.

The thief says nothing and makes a turn around a closed building. Amity goes to do the same but when she drifts around her feet felt something small and round causing her to lose traction and slip off the ground.

Amity falls on her back and lets out a painful gasp. Slightly dazed and confused to what happen, she felt her hand touching a few marbles spilled onto the ground. She lets out an annoyed groan for falling for some cartoonish trick.

“Amity!” Luz finally catches up to her and helps her off the ground. “Are you okay?”

“No…” Amity grunts, feeling the aching pain in her back but luckily notices no injuries. “They got away… my bank card, my belongings, and our fast passes! They’re all gone! If I see that jerk again, I’m going to rip them apart!”

Luz looks ahead and frowns, “Uh… maybe you won’t have to.”

Amity asks what she means before looking over herself. Right there on the ground about ten feet away from them is her handbag. Not lying down like the thief decided to toss it away, but rather sat perfectly down before them.

They both turn to look at each other then back at the bag. Both wondering why the thief suddenly gave up unless it got what they wanted from it. Amity walks over and picks it up, noticing the zipper on her bag is kept closed as well.

“Is everything still there?” Luz asks after Amity checks through the contents.

“Yeah… everything is accounted for…” Amity replies, relieved but still bothered from the experience. “That’s weird, why would they just give up after getting the upper hand? They could have easily gotten away with it.”

Luz shrugs, “Maybe they had a moment of conscious?”

“After making me slip on these marbles?” Amity glares at the spot while securing the bag over her shoulder. Something about this doesn’t feel right with her. But with nothing missing or added to her bag, she honestly can’t think of any reason to what made the thief give up.

“Ooh!” Luz clutches her stomach and lets out a groan.

“What’s wrong!?”

“I think my body’s not sitting well with me running right after eating myself full!” Luz cries. She glances around and sees a public restroom conveniently nearby. The color of embarrassment fills her cheeks as she knows it won’t be possible to keep the contents in. “Uh… Amity? You mind staying out here… away from the restroom? I’m going have to… urk! Powder the heck out of my nose!”

“Oh… OH,” Amity widens her eyes and tries to keep it low profile, “Uh, go right ahead. I’ll just… stand here.”

“Thank youuuuu!” says the poor girl as she charges in like a monster was chasing after her.

Amity shakes her head but couldn’t keep that smile of hers from forming. Reap what you sow, but it’s not like either of them expected an attempted robbery. She heads over to a nearby public bench and sat down while going through her belongings again just to ease her state of mind.

Regretfully, she never did manage to take a picture of Luz’s victory because of that chase. Though she wonders if she should bother to begin with. If any chance her parents happen to see those images, she might unintentionally expose their relationship. But it bothers her not being able to keep any memories of them to herself.

But it’s enough to be having this first date with her. Despite the hiccups and her anxiety getting the better of her, Amity couldn’t remember the last time she genuinely felt this free with herself. No overbearing parents and no toxic ‘friends’ to make her put her guard up. Just her and Luz spending the day together like she wanted.

“There you are!”

Amity’s skin pricks up at the familiar voice and curses her own luck. Boscha, the said toxic ‘friend’ she had just been hoping to not deal with today. Maybe if she turns her head away and ignore her, Boscha will just let out her petty insults and move on.

An almost fatal mistake as a flaming ball wooshes right by her face. “Hey!” Amity screams as she bolted to her feet to face her old friend. “I’m not playing around with you, Boscha! What the heck was that for!?”

“Oh, you _know_ what it’s for, you jerk!” snarled Boscha. She points at herself revealing her loose hair and clothes all drenched in some sort of dark liquid. A couple of her posse shows up in similar states including Skara with a conflicted expression on her face compared to Boscha’s seething rage. “You think it’s cute soiling all of us in Apple Blood!? My hair feels like a cafeteria mop! You got some nerves, _Princess!_ ”

Amity twitches at the nickname Boscha knows very well how much it bothers her. But she is admittedly caught off guard by her rage and the accusation she’s throwing against her. Not to mention the state they’re all in. Something clearly happened but obviously Amity had nothing to do with it since she was with Luz all day. Is this some strange way of Boscha trying to get back at her?

“First off, do _not_ call me that. Second, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Amity firmly replied. “I don’t know what your plan is or if you’re just trying to take it out on me, but I got better things to do than to listen to your wild accusations.”

“Uh, hello? We all seen you running away from us! You think we wouldn’t noticed!?” Boscha cried.

The other kids loudly chatter in agreement, even Skara who doesn’t seem pleased by this nodded her head. “You didn’t say anything when we were calling your name,” she explained, “We ended up following you to this fair and-“

Boscha steps in front of her and cracks her knuckles. “And you’re about to get a hard reminder why nobody, even _you_ , should never mess with me!” She snaps her fingers for one of the groups to hand her another Grudgby ball before coating it in flames. Amity preps herself as she watches Boscha dropping the ball to her feet and launches it at her.

It was easy for Amity to jump out of its way, but what she didn’t expect is the ball hitting one of the iron scaffolding of a nearby ride making it bounce back towards her. “Abomination!” Amity cries for her golem to launch her in the air and take the brunt of the attack. The ball blows a hole through its stomach, but it still manages to maintain its form long enough to catch Amity and let her down before dissolving.

Boscha catches the ball as it makes its way back to her and re-ignites it again. She angrily snarls for missing and arches her arm back this time, “Hold still, you backstabber!”

It was a direct shot but the increased velocity because of her temper came too quick for her to move. Amity controls the puddle of her Abomination to form a large hand and smacks the ball away.

Luz steps out of the bathroom while patting her belly, “Whew! Is it weird to have an appetite after letting it-“ The ball dangerously whizzes by her head causing her to jump back and scream, “Ah! Why!?”

“Luz!” Amity calls out for her in shock of almost directing the shot at her.

Boscha turns her head to Luz while the other kid hands her another ball. “Huh, I wasn’t expecting to see you here. But hey, the more the _bloodier!”_

Amity runs over and grabs Luz by the arm, “I think we should we go!” They both duck an incoming fire ball and bolt off as Boscha screams her throat out before sending the rest of the group after them.

“Was that Boscha!?” Luz cries while looking over her shoulder for any more attacks. “What the heck is her deal this time!?”

“Don’t know!” Amity answers between breaths, “She thinks I done something to her!”

“Why would she think that!?”

“Again, I don’t know! But I never seen her this mad before-LOOK OUT!” Amity tackles Luz to push her out of the way of the flaming projectile. They both roll into one of the game booths without an attendant and remain hidden under its counter.

The group catches up to the spot where they last saw them. Boscha strolls up to the ball she had thrown and kicks it up to her hands. Instead of continuing onward like they hoped, Boscha glances at the surrounding game booths, causing every attendant to quiver under her passing gaze. She snaps her fingers at her group and points to them, “Search em! I know they’re hiding around here somewhere!”

Skara catches up to her as the rest of the kids disperse and grabs onto her arm to pull her away. “Boscha! Come on, this isn’t worth it! Someone is going to call the guards on us! We should leave!”

Boscha pulls her arm free and growls, “I ain’t going anywhere until I burn every bit of that Cabbage Head of hers!”

“How rude!” Luz murmured while peeking out of the counter before ducking back down. “Your hair is nothing like a cabbage! It’s more like a sliced avocado since you got that brown roots going on.”

“What the heck is an avocado?” Amity shakes her head, “Nevermind! Boscha is going to find us soon! We need to get out of here!”

“But she got her goons searching all over the place!” exclaimed Luz, “Even Skara is helping her! And I’m kind of more afraid of her. Boscha is more direct while she got this like snake-ready-to-pounce kind of anger.”

Amity didn’t hesitate the moment the idea came to her head. She dusts herself off and slowly rises to her knees without letting her head reach over the counter. “Don’t worry, I’ll get rid of them.”

“What!?” Luz nearly raised her voice before loudly whispering, “But she’ll kill you if she spots you!”

“That’s right, it’s me she wants. I’m not going to give her a reason to chase you too. You stay here and I’ll try to lead them away. I’ll come back once I lose them.”

“Then let me help!”

“No!” Amity slides her handbag over to Luz for her to keep safe. “I’m not letting you fight my battles for me again. I couldn’t be more than happy to be here with you. The last thing I want is for you to get hurt. Keep this safe for me until I come back.”

Luz’s eyes became filled to brim with tears as she holds onto her and sniffs. “But I don’t want to lose you…” she whines.

“Luz, it’s not like I’m going to die if they catch me.” The sound of bloodcurdling screaming can be heard as one of the kids ransacks the booth. “… Maybe… but remember, Boscha only made it to Captain because I left. She’s not going to catch me.”

Luz hesitates to let her go. She tries to think of a better plan that could get them both out of this mess but every minute they waste gets them closer to their spot. She slowly nods and mutters, “Okay… but be careful. Getting beaten senseless by a bunch of bullies is not how I imagine our date to end.”

“It’s not going to happen. I’ll make sure of it.” Amity stands up and vaults over the counter without anyone noticing her until she waves her arms and shout, “Hey, Boscha! What’s wrong? I think the Apple Blood suits you rather nicely!”

Boscha spins around and lets out a frustrated shriek, “Get her!” and wildly kicks the ball at her. Amity conjures an Abomination wall to block it and starts running away with the other kids chasing after her.

Once the coast seems clear, Luz peeks her head over the counter and looks worriedly in the direction where Amity went to. Not the turn of events she had hoped for, but it could have easily been worse. She was afraid of how bad she could’ve messed up their date. How Amity will realize what a lame person she really is and leave her. Yet the said girl is risking her hide to protect Luz.

No, she couldn’t accept this. Luz climbs over the counter and starts making her way after them. “Sorry, Amity. But the last thing I want is for you to get hurt too.”

~/~

“Wow! This really hurts!” Steve cries out in pain as he planted his injured, right foot to the ground to test it. He leans against his one crutch and awkwardly positions himself without making use of his wounded left arm too protected by a cast.

His partner, Roger, just watches him as he’s currently occupied with holding two cotton candies in both hands. “You do know you could take an injured leave, right?” he reminded him.

“What? And let crime go unpunished in our town? Never!” Steve exclaims, brazenly raising his fist that was holding onto the crutch and nearly lost his balance. “Besides, if I didn’t show up to work, then Lilith wouldn’t have a chance to sign my cast.” He lifts his leg to show the neat handwriting among others that states, _‘Thank you for your service to the Emperor, -Lilith.’_

“You know…” Roger scratches his head, carefully trying to avoid the sore spot where he mysteriously received a bruise. “It’s still bothering me how _you_ manage to destroy that creature alone, both of us waking up on a playground with me soaked in seawater, and neither of us having any memories of the occurrence at all.”

“What, you saying you doubt my skills, rookie?” challenged Steve.

“No, it’s just weird is all,” he shrugs. “I’m still convinced someone kicked me in the stomach a bunch of times before I gain conscious.”

“Probably just a stomach bug.”

“That stomach bug felt like a sharp heel striking me eight times.”

“Get back here!” The guards turn their heads over to the commotion and spotted a girl getting chased by a group of kids.

Steve excitedly jabs Roger with his crutch causing him to drop both cotton candies and points at them with it. “Those kids are recklessly running around in a crowded area! They’re violating pedestrian safety!”

“It kind of looks like they’re trying to hurt that girl…”

“That’s also against the law!” Steve quickly shambles over to the direction of the kids and shouts at them, “Halt, in the name of the Emperor!”

Most of the kids stopped after noticing the guard with Boscha being the last to notice. One of the boy’s points at him and says, “Look! The guy’s got a crutch! We can’t fight that! Let’s get out of here!”

Boscha didn’t get the chance to say anything before her group scatters in different directions, leaving only Skara left pulling on her arm again. “Boscha! Enough is enough! We got to go now!” she exclaims.

Boscha looks back to see Amity long out of sight and lets out a frustrated groan. “This isn’t over, _Princess!_ I’ll get you back for this once school starts again, you hear me!?” she screams. The girls run away from the slow approaching guard with his partner fallen to his knees and weeping over his ruined snacks.

Behind one of the nearby tents before the kids gave up their chase, Amity was grabbed by someone and forced into hiding until everyone disappeared. She was grateful for the sudden assistance, but the gratitude got stuck in her throat when she realizes who her rescuers were. And neither of them was as happy as her.

“Way to go, little sis,” Emira scolded her with a shake of her head, “I know you don’t like her, but do you really think _that_ was necessary?”

Ed shakes his head as well with a clicking sound, “You know pranks are only fun if you could get away with it. I know you like to take after your dear brother and sister, but maybe you should’ve started small…?”

“What are you talking about?” The words escape her mouth before her brain can catch up through all the escalations.

“We’re talking about you breaking that shelf on the juice bar where those kids were at!” Emira exclaims, “You could’ve waited to get away or at least have either of us to bail you out without getting noticed but you just ran right through them! Were you trying to get yourself in trouble!?”

“But I…” Her voice trails off as the connection finally clicks. Boscha was telling the truth. It wasn’t her who did it. The clone. It caused that mess. It brought them to the Fair where Amity and Luz is.

But why? Gus told her that the clone should have acted like her and be obedient. She had thought it was supposed to disappear once it manages to lure her siblings away. Even if it’s sticking around longer like it supposed to, why is it purposely causing trouble for her and Luz?

She has many questions bubbling in her mind, but she still remembers her siblings standing before her still unaware of the trick she pulled on them. Regrettably, Amity feigns a guilty sigh and mutters “I… wasn’t thinking… I’m sorry.”

“I’d say,” Emira rebuked, “That seriously came out of nowhere, I thought you lost it.”

Ed nods in agreement, “Yeah, I can understand if you’re upset about going back soon. Must be nice to hang out with Luz all day.”

Going back? Ah, right. Her real home. Amity had genuinely forgotten she’s only over at the Owl House because of her home being infested with spiders. She’s really about to head back then. Despite her playing along to keep her twins fooled, she felt disheartened by the news. Her times with Luz are about to end.

Amity wasn’t sure if she’s playing along with the lie or trying to keep her walls up to not show weakness to her siblings anymore. She crossed her arms and looks away. Hoping they wouldn’t notice her eyes going misty. “Get real…” she mutters, “It’s just… personal.”

Emira couldn’t understand what her sister could mean but sighs knowing she’s not going to open up to them about it. “Don’t say we didn’t warn you then,” she said, “Just be ready to go when we come to pick you up in a couple of days. They haven’t noticed anything yet, so if you could please remember what me and Ed are doing for you, try not to get into any more trouble again?”

“It would be hard to explain to mom how you’re staying over at the person you’re trying to annoy,” Ed commented.

“I get it,” Amity slowly nods, “I’ll be careful.”

“Now that that’s over with, I wonder where Luz ran off to?” Ed mentions to them.

Emira shrugs and shoots a glance at Amity, “She probably went home since we ended up _ditching_ her thanks to someone.”

 _Luz!_ Amity almost broke character realizing the Copy must be making its way to her now. “Uh… weird question, when and where did you two lose me at when I was running from them?”

It was a risky question, one that caught them both by surprise. But if the Copy was intending to get them both hurt and separate them, then it could very well hurt Luz who is likely to think it’s Amity coming back to her. She can’t let that happen.

“Somewhere in the marketplace,” Ed answers with a shrug, “Remember? We couldn’t find you for an hour until we heard that commotion at the juice bar.”

An hour. Thinking back to it now, it seems awfully convenient how the thief led them to a spot where Boscha and her goons encountered them. Gus said the Copy should imitate all her characteristics. Meaning its just as intelligent as her and have been creating a plan when while it pretended to obey its initial orders.

Amity can’t waste any more time now that Luz could be in danger. The fear of whatever that Copy has in store for her made her suddenly blurt, “If that’s all, then I got to go!”

Emira grabs Amity’s collar just as she tries to run by and pulls her back, “Would you just slow down for one minute? You been acting weird and out of character all day. What’s really going on, Amity? Even you wouldn’t act this way on your worst days.”

Amity shakes her hand away. “Just… “ She pauses to take a deep breath in and then calmly replies, “Just for this one time, can you two just give me some space? I’m not saying to get lost. I will explain everything to you later. But there’s somewhere I have to be right now.”

She could have easily given it up and tell them everything. But not with Luz’s life on the line. The twins look at each other again, Emira clearly annoyed and Ed looking unsure about the situation. They shrug and Emira mutters, “Fine, we’ll get off your back… just this once.”

Ed ruffles Amity’s hair on his way out saying, “We’ll be around if you change your mind, get on your knees, and beg for us to hang with you.” The twins chuckle at that and waves her off before leaving.

Now with them out of the picture, Amity goes back to searching for either Luz or the Copy. The last time she seen Luz was at that area with the surrounding game booths. It didn’t take long for her to go back, now that she doesn’t have to worry about running into Boscha again. But when she approached the abandoned booth where she last saw her and calls out for her, she received no reply.

“Luz!? Where are you?” Amity cries out. She was supposed to be waiting for her. Did the Copy get to her first?

Seeing no other option, Amity runs up to the first person she sees manning one of the nearby booths. “Excuse me! Did you see a human around here? Tanned skin? Brown hair? Has a silly, cute looking otter face?”

“What’s an otter?”

“It’s like a… water dog or something? I don’t know! Can you just tell me where she went?”

The person points to the south that leads further in to where more game booths are located, “I think I saw someone matching that description heading down that way. Weird, I’m getting a déjà vu here. Could have sworn someone like you had already asked me that today.”

The Copy. It already gotten ahead of her. Amity thanks the man and speeds off to the direction where he said they were going. Her mind racing with fear wondering where they are and why the Copy decided to attack them. What is it that she’s missing? What could have cause it to rebel out of nowhere?

“I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Amity stops in her tracks hearing Luz’s voice close by. Using one of the booths nearby as cover, Amity spots Luz walking around the bustling area. As relieved she is to see her safe, her heart falters when she spotted the person she is talking to. The Copy pretending to be her, wearing her handbag and smiling ear to ear.

“It was easy shaking her off,” It says, “She only made Captain of Banshees because I left, you know.”

Luz lightly elbows her, “You already said that, silly!”

“O-oh, yeah! Sorry, all that running got my brain feeling like mush.”

“I know what you mean, P.E. classes at home does that to me too.” Luz stops by one of the booths and inspects the prizes hanging from the rack. Stuffed toys of all sorts of animalistic variety that are just as big as her. She imagines King would love to have one of these ‘soldiers’ in his widdle army.

“Hey, why don’t we play a few games here! Amity, you still have some snails on you, right?” Luz turns to suddenly see her missing. She frowns and looks around to see where wondered off to. “Amity? Where you go-mity?”

What Luz missed is Amity grabbing her Copy and forcing it away from her. She pulls her Copy through the tight pathway between the booths and presses it against the wall. “You!” she growls.

“Hello me,” the Copy calmly replies.

“Don’t _‘Hello’_ me! What the heck were you trying back there!? Stealing my belongings! Sending Boscha and her friends after us!? You were only supposed to lead the twins away! Why are you trying to hurt us?”

“Oh please,” the Copy waves at her accusations, “I would never hurt Luz. We both know you would protect her from them. And thanks to you, she’s safe. Just as I expected.”

She expected Amity to protect her? What purpose could she have for doing that? If she wasn’t pretending to be her to get close to Luz with malicious intent, then…

“You…” Amity couldn’t believe as the words were coming out of her, “You wanted us to be separated. So, you could step in as me and she wouldn’t know… You’re trying to steal my date!?”

“Bingo.”

“Why!?” Amity cries out.

“Are you seriously asking me that?” the Copy chuckles, “Gus made me to be the perfect copy of you. That means all memories. All personality. _All_ emotions. I can see why you like her so much. She’s so sweet and adorable in person!”

It’s nearly impossible to distinguish the growing red colors on Amity’s face to be the result of either anger or embarrassment. Let’s go with both. “I don’t know if you happen to hit your head or anything, but in case you need a reminder: _I_ am the one whose going on this date. You’re just a figment of a spell used to distract the twins!”

“Exactly, I’m only going to exist today. So why not let me have my last wish and go out with Luz?” the Copy replied.

“This is our first date!”

“And you get to have your second, third, fourth, and twentieth after.” The Copy crosses her arms and sighs, “You have any idea how selfish you sound right now?”

Amity slams her fist against the wall next to the Copy’s head. It doesn’t flinch and just silently stares back at her as she leans in close with a threatening tone. “Listen here, Faker. I been looking forward to this all day and have been through enough because of you. I may not have the means to dispel you but we both know full well of my magical capabilities. You may copy my memories and looks, but illusions can’t cast magic themselves. Since I’m in a good mood, I’m willing to let you go so you can enjoy life a little longer if you cut this act you’re pulling and back off right now!”

The Copy says nothing for a moment and glances at her arm then back to her. Amity has her other hand ready to summon her Abomination until the Copy lets out a quiet groan and nods. “You’re right, I’m just an illusion. These feelings are just a reflection of yours, after all. I’m sorry.”

Amity backs away but keeps her hands ready in case the clone decides to run. She promised to let the clone go but she isn’t as foolish to believe it will just listen to her obediently. It mimics some of her personality but there’s clearly something different about it. Amity will have to restrain it once it turns it back on her.

“Now, do you mind handing that over to me?” Amity asks pointing at her handbag.

The Copy complies and exchanges it to her before looking at her hair and saying, “You’re not going to go out to Luz looking like that are you?”

Amity blinks and touches her hair at the comment, “What? Why? What’s wrong with it?”

“There’s something on you… it’s right there-ah, no left- _my_ left! Hold on, let me get this mirror out for you.” The Copy pulls out a hand mirror out of her bag and holds it in front of her. Amity inspects herself and tries to make herself presentable again before meeting Luz. But she still couldn’t find whatever the Copy was talking about.

Something caught her eye in the reflection. Her mind took a moment to register whatever it was. It almost looks a ripple going across the surface like water. That can’t be. It must have been a trick of the eye… wait.

How come Amity doesn’t recognize this mirror?

A flash of light emerges from the mirror, blinding the girl as she felt her body being pulled towards it. Amity lets out a scream, but it was caught off short as her body twists as it is getting sucked into the mirror. The Copy held against the recoil of the mirror as it absorbs Amity entirely and goes back into its dormant state.

The faint sound of pounding against glass can be heard before the Copy twirls the mirror in her hand to face Amity trapped within the mirror. “W-what is this!?” screamed Amity, her voice muffled through the layer of glass.

“Like it? I swiped it from a cursed relic shop before I lead Boscha and her goons to you. A mirror that traps whoever gazes into it. Guess now you’ll know what it’s like to copy someone else.”

“Let me out!” Amity exclaims while banging her fists against the glass, “You think you can get away with this!? If Gus sees you, he’ll know you’re the fake and pop you out of existence!”

The Copy laughs, “Oh, I’m not worried. I already taken care of him.”

Amity’s face twists in fear before a new surge of anger rises in her. “What did you to do to him!?”

“Calm down, he’s okay. I’m not a psychopath,” the Copy shakes its head. “Let’s just say something came up for him.”

Meanwhile, Gus stands in front of Eda’s shop holding an alarm clock in his hand. “Whoa!” Gus polishes the device with his shirt and holds it up for a better look, “This is the box humans use to control time! Oh man I got to get Luz to show me how it works! How much is it?”

Eda grins at her student’s short friend and asks, “How much you got?”

Gus reaches in his pocket for the snails before hearing a loud voice calling his name. “AUGUSTUS PORTER!” The boy freezes in fear at his full name being thrown before turning around slowly to see his father standing a few feet away with his copy’s arm in hand.

Eda silently takes the alarm clock from the stunned Gus and slowly descends beneath the counter. “D-dad? Oh, sorry! I think you’re confusing me with the real Gus! He went to the bathroom and-“

“Oh no!” his father interrupted, “I’m not falling for that, mister! The girl with the green hair told me everything! I cannot believe you pull this ‘swap trick’ on me again! Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you! Fool me eighteen times… uh, hm… you’re grounded!”

“What!?” Gus wasn’t surprised by the punishment, but rather at hearing who ratted him out. A girl with green hair obviously means Amity but why would she do that to him?

Mr. Porter grabs his son’s arm, “Come on! We’re heading straight home to discuss your punishment! I don’t mean to spoil, but our bathrooms could use a nice scrubbing.”

“NOOO!” both boys cried as they get dragged away by their father.

“You’re not going to get away with this!” Amity screams, “Luz will find out you’re a clone!”

“Will she now?” the Copy smirks, “And what reason would she have to expect that? Right now, she’s in the bathroom thinking you’re just out there waiting for her. The twins still have no idea about this trick you pulled, correct? And with Gus out of the picture, you’re the only one could tell I’m not the real you. And here you are.”

“Amity?” Luz’s voice can be heard from the distance. Amity took the opportunity to call out for help, but her muffled voice becomes lost to the sea of screaming rides and chattering of bystanders. The Copy steps out from the pathway and heads over to the nearest trash bin.

“If it’s any consolation, I will make sure this will be the best date Luz will ever have.” Amity screams for Luz to no avail as the Copy drops her into the trash. “Don’t wait up,” mocked the Copy, giving Amity one last goodbye before walking away.

“Get back here! Luz! Eda! Anyone! HELP!” Amity continues to scream in a vain attempt for anyone’s attention.

Meanwhile, Luz is still looking around for her. “Amity! Hey, come on where did you go?”

A pair of hands suddenly covers her eyes as someone presses against her back and says, “Guess who?”

“Ah!” Luz jumps and assumes a random, judo-like stance only to find the Copy. “Oh, there you are!” Luz breathes a sigh of relief, “Where were you and where did that come from?”

“Sorry! I was just throwing out some trash…” the Copy coughs. “I saw you looking for me and thought to, you know, do something cute… did you not like that?”

“It just caught me off guard is all,” Luz admitted. “I thought you left me behind for a second there.” She chuckles to herself feeling foolish for jumping to that conclusion.

“Don’t be silly.” Luz tenses when she felt Amity gently placing her hand onto her cheek and gazes longingly into her eyes. It was a strangely bold move of her to make considering how Amity was always the one to squirm when it comes to physical contact.

“Are… you alright?” Luz asks, darting her eyes back and forth between Amity and her hand.

“Never better!” Amity withdrew her hand and hooks her arm around Luz’s. “Come on, what are we waiting for? We still got some daylight left, so let’s get this date going!”

“O-okay…” Luz follows along as Amity eagerly pulls her away from the area, unaware of the real Amity calling out to her from within the cursed mirror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the wait, with things coming up in IRL, it's becoming harder to continue working. I also appear to be suffering burnout due to such things. Chapters may come out slowly, but I do have an idea for the next arc and will be eager to work on it once I finish this one.
> 
> In the meantime, to address the issues of the Spanish usage, I sincerely apologize to my readers as I know next to nothing about the language but wanted to keep that character charm about Luz in the story. I have been relying on translation sites but knew I couldn't get away with it for long. As such, I will be looking for a Beta Reader who is fluent in both languages to help revise the Spanish bits. Once I finish this story, I plan to go over it and fix as many mistakes and make small adjustments before I put it on the shelf for good.
> 
> As always, thank you reading!


	14. Fifth Day, Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sincere apologies for the unexpected wait on the worst cliffhanger to date. Unfortunate circumstances came up that had to take my time away from writing a while and a new course started for my college semester. I hope you all enjoy and don't worry, this date isn't over yet and the next chapter should come in sooner. Take care and thank you for reading!

“Hey, Amity?”

“Yes, Luz?”

“Is everything really alright with you?”

“Of course,” the Copy feigns the offense in her tone, “What makes you think otherwise?”

“Oh nothing… I thought we agreed this whole dating was supposed to be a little discreet?” Luz reminded the girl who is wrapped around her arm with her head leaning against her shoulder.

The Copy shrugs and clings a little tighter, “Oh don’t worry, even friends can be this close.”

“I… don’t actually have enough social experience to deny that,” Luz admitted. But given how Amity reacts by the slightest touch would have her getting flustered, it seems strange of her to suddenly not have a problem with it and acting a little ‘lovey-dovey.’ Maybe that’s just how people are during dates?

It’s been roughly an hour since their encounter with Boscha today. They drop into the area where they’re serving carnival food for lunch. Luz went with something light or whatever you could get that isn’t fried, sugar-coated, or high in calories. They took their seats on a public table to give her feet a break from all the walking and running. ‘Amity’ didn’t get anything for herself as she sits across the table and rests her head on her hands to longingly gaze at her.

Luz mistakes her attention being focused on the half-eaten pretzel on her hands and offers it to her, “You hungry?”

“Nope, just… taking in the view.”

View? They’re in a middle of public eating space surrounded by abandoned tables with food, overstuffed garbage bins, and an ungodly amount of litter on the ground. “Okay… but are you sure? You haven’t had anything to eat since this morning.”

“Oh, I’m just not feeling hungry is all.”

“Amity, we carried around Eda’s stuff for her shop all morning, walked around a lot, AND even had to run for our lives. All you had today was a bowl of cereal.”

The Copy hesitates to answer because it is incapable of eating or drinking anything. It couldn’t even fake it for if it even tries to the food in its body will likely cause problems since illusions lack inner parts.

“That’s… that’s because I was hoping we could… make dinner tonight? With you?”

Luz frowns at the Copy’s response, making it fear that she might’ve see through the lie. Her expression then squirms a bit at the memory of Amity’s first night and tries to stifle a giggle. “You want to give it another shot?” she asks, “That’s fine, but you shouldn’t starve yourself for that!”

“You know what they say, the hungrier you are the better it tastes!” the Copy sheepishly shrugs. Luz shakes her head and continues to chow down her pretzel. It was a close call but what will excuse would it have later? If it can’t eat in front of Luz then how is it expected to pull this ruse off forever?

The logic part of Amity’s brain is telling her to give up. Illusions can stay in this realm forever. But watching Luz gnawing on that pretzel like a dog chewing on a stick made overwhelms her with irrational love and admiration. _I’ll figure it out_ , the Copy said in her mind. _After all, there’s not a ghost of a chance for her to come back._

~/~

With his master gone, Owlbert is given freedom to explore the town and search for whatever goodies it has in store for him. Despite numerous times Eda tries to tell him not to eat whatever junk food he finds, the little Palisman couldn’t help himself when the smell of carnival food reaches him.

Learning his lesson from the last time he tried to swipe a meal right out of their grasp, Owlbert perches himself on the roof of a game booth and carefully watches the people below. A certain man walking around with a hot dog caught his eye, noticing it being half eaten yet the person doesn’t seem interested in finishing it.

He waits until the man finds a trashcan and tosses the food in. Owlbert swoops in and lands on the edge of the trash to peer inside if the hot dog is still edible to eat. Seeing no nasty garbage possibly spoiling his meal, he happily jumps down to retrieve it.

“What was that? Hello? Is someone there?” Owlbert nearly jumps out of his skin upon hearing the muffled voice of someone below the trash. He thought it might have either been a trick of the mind or mistaking it for someone running around the fair before it clearly calls out again. “Can you hear me? Anyone!?”

Recognizing the voice this time, Owlbert quickly digs through the trash by scraping it away with his feet until it hits something solid. He flaps his wings to clear away the light materials covering the object and reveals the mirror with Amity trapped inside.

“You! You’re Eda’s palisman! Thank the Titan, you saved me!”

“ _Hoo_?” Owlbert tilts his head in confusion, clearly wondering what happened to her.

“I know you must be confused. I can explain later but first I need you to get me to Eda so she could figure out how to release me! Please, Luz could be in danger!”

Hearing the dire news of the human who has risked her life to regain his trust, Owlbert adopts a serious expression and nods. He kicks away the rest of the trash to uncover the handle of the mirror and clutches it tight in his claws. With Amity tightly secured, the little Palisman takes off into the sky and heads straight to Eda’s shop.

It took them no time at all to get there as they fly over to see a small crowd gathering around the stand. When they got closer, they could see the King sitting on the counter with his arms crossed and clearly not being pleased receiving this attention thanks to the baby pajamas he’s wearing.

“Look at those little feetsies!” cooed a lady in the crowd, “I just wanna bite them!”

King shot up to his feet and screams, “You keep your nasty teeth away from me! If you’re all not here to buy something, then get lost!”

A young man steps forward and faces the crowd, “Hey, everyone! He’s right! We can’t keep standing here and admiring this dog in a onesie. That’s obstruction of business!”

King wasn’t expecting for someone to come to his defense about it. Must be because of his authoritative tone. He proudly placed his hands on his hips and nods, “Thank you, kind welp.”

But his gratitude quickly dies as the man conjures a scrollphone and says to the crowd, “So let’s all get some pictures to capture the moment!” Everyone takes out their scrolls and blinds King in a barrage of flashes. The little guy stumbles back and falls over the counter. His body rolls through the curtains leading to the back area where the customers all disappointedly sigh seeing him gone.

King groans in pain before the anger rises in his blood. He screeches and tears the baby pajamas off of his body with great effort. He bundles up the scraps and heads over to a trashcan while doing his poor impression of Eda saying, “’King! That’s your fifth mulligan, just play the game already!’”

King dunks the ruined clothing into the trashcan and kicks it over. After physically throwing his widdle tantrum, King gathers his breath again and regaining his senses. “Oh man… I need a vacation…” he groans.

“ _Hoo!”_ Owlbert floats down to King’s level with the mirror still clutched in his claws. King doesn’t look as thrilled to see him again.

“Oh, what do you want? Here to gloat about your victory again? You’re just lucky Eda caught me cheating or I would’ve had you!”

Owlbert frowns and retorts with a sharp, “ _Hoothoot!”_

“I am not a butt and it does not hurt either!”

“What’s going on? King, is that you?” Amity’s voice came through and caught King off guard.

He looks around expecting to see her standing somewhere but couldn’t tell where the voice was coming from. “Amity? Where you at?” he asks.

“In here!” Owlbert carefully flips the mirror over to have her facing King. The little demon was taken aback to see her face in the reflection.

He takes the mirror from Owlbert and holds it up close. “Whoa, Luz ripped your heart out and now she put you inside a mirror? This dating stuff is seriously intense.”

“What are you talking about? No, nevermind. Where’s Eda?”

“She hasn’t come back yet,” King replies. He looks to Owlbert who also shrugs as he was left to his own devices by his owner before leaving to the elixir shop. “It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s taking her time and check out the stores herself. Where’s Luz by the way?”

Amity groans at her horrible luck, wondering to herself where that irresponsible witch has run off to this time. But she really can’t blame Eda since this disaster was her fault to begin with anyway. Still, she can’t waste any time with letting that Copy be alone with Luz. Even if the Copy solemnly swears not to touch her, the idea of her date being stolen is enough to send her into a frenzy.

“Luz isn’t here because there’s an illusory copy of me that forced me into this cursed object so it could steal my spot in our date! It was created to drive my siblings away, but it seems to develop an obsession with her based on my feelings.”

“Ooh, I heard this one before,” King chimes, “I think Luz calls them ‘Yandere’ or something…”

There’s another word Amity will have to look up in the Spanish dictionary. Since Eda is nowhere to be found, she’ll have to settle on their help. “King, we need to help Luz in case something else goes wrong with that copy. Do you know anything about dealing with cursed objects?”

“That uh…” King clears his throat, “Sort of lies outside of my expertise. Usually, Eda does all the busywork… what if we just smash it?”

“That could risk the chance of getting me _killed_ , King!”

“We won’t know until we try,” King shrugs but was vehemently shot down by both Amity and Owlbert. “Alright, alright! Geez… maybe if Luz was here, she could think of something.”

That gave her an idea. “Take me to her then!” Amity demanded, “The clone must believe it had gotten rid of me. Luz will realize it’s me once she sees me in this thing! There’s no way the Copy can explain itself then.”

Owlbert lets out a hoot for King to translate to, “What about Eda?”

“I know what I’m going to ask is selfish but nevermind about letting Eda know. I really enjoy being with Luz and I think she feels the same. I don’t want Eda to make us cancel it because of me. She must not know what happened. I know I’m asking you to lie to your master but if you won’t do it for me, could you do it for Luz?”

If Amity had knew what Luz had gone through to earn Owlbert’s trust, she would find her even more admirable to gain the trust of a palisman belonging to someone else. The little owl swears to her by gesturing a zipper across his beak.

With that settled, King looks around for something to help keep Amity secure if he must run all the way to the fair. In one of the boxes of human belongings, he spotted a leather belt and pulls it out. He figures out how to strap it around his shoulder tightly with Amity safely bound to his chest.

Satisfied, King turns around and says, “Owlbert, you stay behind and watch over the place in case Eda gets back.”

“ _Hoot?_ ”

“I don’t know, just tell her I went for a jog.”

“ _Hoot_.”

“I’ll have you know I take cardio very seriously! Short legs means longer distances!”

“Can we please focus?” Amity shouts at them. King gives Owlbert a wave before making his way through the back alley to avoid the bustling streets. It won’t take them long to find to get there, but after being stuck in that trash for a while Amity couldn’t help but be worried about whatever that Copy of hers is doing.

~/~

After finishing her meal, Luz and the Copy decided to hit up the game area at her request. A few booth attendants who were unfortunate to receive Boscha’s wrath weren’t as happy to see them. Luz felt guilty from that affair and decided to visit the other ones instead. One booth caught her eye as she notices the slingshots holstered on the counter.

“Ooh! This one looks fun!” Luz pulls ‘Amity’ over to the booth. The attendant has his back turn and bent over trying to pick up something as they arrived. “Excuse me! Is the game open?”

“Sure is!” The man stands up and turns around, revealing multiple bandaged wounds and a broken arm cast. Luz was taken aback before recognizing him, “Hey, you’re the guy who was manning that piranha booth!”

“Hm? Oh, you’re the flying girl!” He tenses up and looks around the area for someone, “Uh, that little bone demon isn’t around is he?”

“Nope,” Luz frowns wondering what got him so scared, “Just me and my friend here-“

“Girlfriend,” the Copy firmly corrected her.

Luz was caught off guard by how assertive she was in saying that word when she acted timid and nervous telling others about their relationship earlier. “Yeah, my bad. Just me and my girlfriend here.”

The attendant wipes his forehead and exhales, “That’s great! In that case, you two looking to play? Knock down as many of these targets as you can to win a prize!”

“Maybe not, sorry.” Luz turns to leave but felt the tug of ‘Amity’s’ arm holding her back.

“I thought you wanted to play?”

“I did but…” Luz doesn’t bother to lower her voice in front of the Attendant, “That guy rigs his games. He was pretty much the reason I landed on you that day.”

“Hey now, that stunt of yours got my boss’ attention and he threatened to fire me for that,” he swore. “I changed my ways, and this is a new booth! All you have to do is use those slingshots to knock down the targets!” He gestures to the wall behind him that has the cardboard layout of an old western themed town. Luz recognizes this as one of those moving target types of games and does admittedly enjoys them the most.

“Tell you what, you knock down at least three and I’ll give you the top shelf prizes.” He taps the hanging shelf that has the massive stuffed animals on display.

“Ohh… King would love to have one of those.”

“Then let’s get them for him!” ‘Amity’ suggested.

“Alright… as long as there are no tricks.” Luz drops the money for the match and picks up her slingshot. She carefully inspects it for any alterations that could negatively affect her shots, but it was simple of a slingshot could be. The attendant even lets her test a shot against the wall and proves it’s just as effective.

Satisfied, Luz takes a stance and preps her shot. “Ready!” she announces to the Attendant.

The man flips a switch, causing the board to light up. Luz raises her weapon ready to shoot down the targets as he begins counting down from three.

“3… 2… 1! Take cover!” The Attendant dives to the ground.

“Huh?” Luz blinks and suddenly the wall was lined up with cardboard bandits each with their arms sticking out and carrying toy guns. Their arms all move to aim directly at Luz who suddenly realize those toys weren’t cardboard at all and begin firing at her.

“Ah!” Luz screeches and jumps as the pellets hits the ground underneath. She rapidly moves her feet to avoid them like she’s doing a funny dance. ‘Amity’ stares in horror but couldn’t jump in until the last of the ammunition was spent and the cardboard bandits retreat behind the scenes.

“Luz! Are you okay!?”

“Yeah, somehow I managed to avoid most of them, and it doesn’t hurt through the shoes.” Luz then glares at the man who roars with laughter, “I thought you said it wasn’t rigged!”

“I never said the targets wouldn’t shoot back!” the Attendant said, pointing and laughing at her. “First you can fly and you can dance!? Ain’t she a keeper?” He air elbows to Amity before reeling his head back again to laugh.

The Copy growls before noticing the switch he used to trigger the game. She takes the slingshot from Luz and launches a rock directly at it. The Attendant took too long to notice as the board lights up and sends out the firing Bandits again, this time with him directly in their way.

“Uh oh…” He didn’t have time to take cover before getting fully assaulted by a barrage of pellets, unable to move due to their relentless attack. Luz winces at each cry of pain he makes and can’t imagine how it must have felt being that close to them. One of the pellets hits him right between the eyes and knocks him back over the counter just as the ammunition ran dry.

‘Amity’ walks up to the man and opens one of his eyelids to see that he has been knocked out cold. It shrugs and uses his face as a makeshift stepping stool to grab the large stuffed penguin and gives it to Luz.

The human girl doesn’t take the gift and just stares at her in disbelief. “Amity? What did you do that for!?”

“What are you talking about? You saw what he just did to you!”

“Yeah, but that was low, even for you!” Luz snaps back at her.

‘Amity’ seems confused by her implication and shrugs, “I was just doing what any girlfriend would do.”

“Being my girlfriend doesn’t mean you should attack whoever messes with me! You’re better than that!” Luz narrows her eyes and crosses her arms at her, “Or at least I thought you were. You have been acting not like yourself today…”

‘Amity’ chuckles, “That’s impossible-“

“And why is that?” Luz raises an eyebrow at that as the Copy realizes its mistake.

“Because! Because… there’s…” There wasn’t a chance it could explain itself out of this. After frantically searching through Amity’s memories that could help her out, she realized the best way out of this is to take advantage of Luz’s sensitivity. She feigns a sad sigh, “You’re right, I haven’t been myself lately. I been too worried about how to act in front of you that I wasn’t thinking clearly. I must look like a bully to you… like I was before…”

The Copy lowers its head down but could see her words working. All the suspicion and anger on Luz’s face went away as she holds her shoulder to comfort her, “Hey, don’t say that about yourself! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to put you down like that. Let’s just put that thing back and get out of here before anyone notice.”

‘Amity’ does what she was told but not before sneaking a smaller prize into her bag without Luz noticing. A little stuffed creature that looks like some sort of bug wearing a white mask with two hollowed eyes and a tattered cloak. Intended to give it to Luz as a gift later, the Copy keeps it in her bag before rejoining her.

Nearby, King and Amity saw the whole thing which infuriates the trapped girl. “Unbelievable!” Amity growls, “Either Gus has an insulting view of me, or this clone he made came out half-baked!”

“Not to mention she picked the wrong toy! I already got that one!” King cried. Amity rolls her eyes but made no comment to that. Now that they found them, Amity informed King to wait until an opportune moment for Luz needing to separate from the Copy. They could run out there now and expose the Copy but because of its strange behavior, Amity isn’t sure what it would do to Luz or King. And with her still trapped in the mirror, she wouldn’t be able to help at all.

All they need is to be able to pull Luz away somehow without alerting the Copy.

King does his best to remain a safe distance from the two but to keep them in sight. However, the area suddenly got busied again with more visitors coming in from the opposite direction where Luz and the Copy are heading. And it wasn’t easy to try to stay inconspicuous when nearly every passing person takes notice of the adorable demon.

“Aw, look at you, little fellow! Is somebody lost?” cooed a female visitor who stops King by kneeling in front of him.

King pushes the person aside to continue through, “Out of the way! I’m on a mission!”

“King, don’t lose them!” Amity cries.

“I’m trying!” He squeezes out between two people and duck under the legs of another to continue after them but unfortunately loses sight of the two. King doesn’t give up and follows the path ahead, hoping to stumble upon them again. “Ugh, if I knew I was going to run this much I would’ve done some stretching before I-ah!”

King felt the back of his collar being grabbed and gets hoisted up in the air. He turns around to find the illusion of Amity staring daggers at him and the mirror. “Uh oh…” he mutters.

“King?” Amity couldn’t tell what was happening until the Copy takes the mirror from his belt and reveals itself to her.

“Honestly, to think you manage to find help even in this state. I should have known better than to underestimate myself.” The Copy cuts through the path to hide between the stands and into a different area so no one could intervene. King struggles to get out of her grasp but couldn’t do much with his limbs dangling in the air.

“How the heck did you notice us!?” King demanded.

“You think I wouldn’t notice the sound of people ogling behind us?” The Copy sighs, “Things would have gotten ugly if Luz had noticed you first.”

Amity lets loose the bile burning in her throat, “Where is she? If you touched her, I swear I’ll-!”

“Relax, I wouldn’t lay a hand on that adorable face.” The Clone smirks at the growling girl. “And I prefer to get back to her without you two interfering.”

“That’s _my_ date you’re interfering with, you discount brand!” Amity shouted.

“Ha!” King laughs and points at the Copy’s face.

“Hmm…” The Copy holds the mirror in front of King and grins, “Did you know? This mirror doesn’t only trap one person.”

King gulps, “That’s uh… an interesting tidbit. You mind demonstrating that on someone else?”

“Nah.” The Copy triggers the mirror’s curse and sucks in the little demon into its surface. A flash of light emanates before revealing Amity holding the tiny demon in her arms. “There you go,” the Clone said to Amity, “Now you got a friend to play with.”

“No! This place doesn’t even have television!” King cries, “I’m already getting bored!”

Amity drops the loud crybaby from her arms and bangs the glass with her fists. “You can’t get away with this! If Luz and Eda find out he’s missing, you’ll be in serious trouble!”

The Clone can’t deny that, but it doesn’t lose confidence by saying, “Well, it’ll only be temporary if someone agrees to keeping this whole thing a secret.”

Amity scoffs, “Really? You think King would be that shallow to accept?”

“Yeah!” said King, “Try asking me again before 5:30!”

“Wait, what?”

“There’s a new show premiering.”

The Clone laughs, “Don’t look so down, Amity. At least Luz will be thinking it’s you she’s with. And as long as you two are out of the picture, she will never be the wiser.”

“Amity?”

The Copy freezes for a moment before remembering to stuff the mirror into its handbag before turning around to Luz walking in on them. “L-Luz! What are you doing here? I thought I told you to wait for me…”

“I thought I heard someone and saw weird lights coming out of here.” Luz stares at the handbag where and notice the arm of the stuffed toy caught in the zipper. “What were you doing?”

“I… I had a call! Very important, you know, my parents decided on the worst time to check on me, so I had to excuse myself.” The Copy nervously shrugs.

“… I thought you said you needed to use the bathroom.”

“I-I did! And then my parents called!” The Copy corrected itself, “Look, I’m still sorry about the way I acted earlier. I really want to make it up to you somehow. Why don’t we do some shopping later before we head back. I’ll even treat you to something.”

Luz doesn’t answer, making the Copy wonder if she’s getting suspicious about something. Finally, she just lets out a sigh and says, “I’m fine, really. Going on this date is enough for me. I just want to have fun with the person I like.”

The Copy smiles widely, reveling in its deception. “Then let’s keep doing that! Come on, let’s catch a few more games and some rides later.”

Luz allows them to pass through before tapping ‘Amity’ on the shoulder and say, “Before we go, I actually got you a little gift.”

‘Amity’ looks back at her in surprise and beams, “You did?”

Luz nods, “Yeah, I snuck it into your bag a while ago and been hoping you’d notice.”

‘Amity’ excitedly unzips the back and rifles through it. It notices a compressed plastic bag containing something and pulls it out. “Is this it?” it asks Luz who only responded with another nod. It opens it up and looks inside before letting out a gasp.

“Is this… a hair dying kit? Aw, Luz! That’s so sweet of you!”

“Aha!” Luz snatches the bag from her and grasps the Copy’s hand tightly. “I knew it! I already gave Amity this gift! She didn’t even like it! She left it in her bag because she didn’t want it to go to waste! And yet you acted like it’s the first time you seen it! You’re not Amity! You’re that illusion that looks like Amity! Or should I say _Enmity_!”

“I-I am not Enmity!” said Enmity, “I mean I’m not a fake! It’s… I mean I…” There is no way it could explain itself out of this now. Enmity lowers its arm and drops the bag. “Okay… okay, you caught me. I’m not Amity.”

“I knew it! Oh, wait, I already said that.” Luz clears her throat and resumes her interrogation, “What did you do to Amity!?”

“N-nothing! I didn’t hurt her, I swear!” Enmity tries to feel its arm from her, “Luz, please don’t be mad at me-“

“Mad at you!? That doesn’t even begin to describe what I’m feeling!”

“A-and you’re right to! But please understand, I did this all for you!”

Luz looks like she got told that she came from a long line of samurai ostriches. “What!?”

Enmity takes Luz’s hands into its own to plea for her forgiveness, but the human stiffens under its touch. “Luz, I really like you! I can’t help feeling this way! They made me to be an exact copy of her.”

“But you’re not _my_ Amity.” Luz shakes off her hands as the cold feeling creeping up her arms was getting unbearable. “I’m sorry you feel that way, really, but I-I can’t date a copy!”

“But wouldn’t it be better?”

Luz frowns, “What would?”

“Think about it, you both have to hide your relationship in front of others and her parents. Do you really think you two could keep that up forever? Boscha and the twins stumbled onto your date and almost got yourselves exposed.”

It was a close call on both accounts, Luz admitted. “Yeah, but-“

“But you wouldn’t have to worry about that with me.” Enmity takes a step closer, making Luz taking one step back. “They made me to be a perfect copy of her. Except you don’t have to worry about her parents. I am just a clone, but I can be a better Amity. You two had a fight before, right? I would never fight you. I never would have to leave either. We can continue having sleepovers for the rest of our lives! Think about it, Luz. Wouldn’t you want this to never end? To keep enjoying this week off together?”

“Oh my gosh, no!” Luz pushes Enmity away. The clone stumbles back and looks back at her with pain and confusion in its eyes. For a moment, it hurts Luz to see that expression of Amity’s face, but she was not going to let that stop her. “Just because we have to keep our relationship a secret doesn’t mean I don’t like it! Sure, it’s scary thinking about what happens after she leaves and how our relationship will go on, but even if her parents will find it, I want to at least give it a try. And I don’t want a ‘better’ Amity! She isn’t perfect, but she always tries to do the right thing and even changes herself for the better. That’s what I love about her.

“I’m flattered you like me so much, but I’m not leaving Amity for a copy or anyone else. I wouldn’t do that to her. I’m sorry, but you’re the Amity I fell for.”

Enmity took the rejection like a bullet and sorrowfully looks at the ground. It parted its mouth slightly to let out a barely audible, “Oh… I see.”

Getting a girlfriend was one thing but breaking the heart of another was _definitely_ something Luz never thought she would do in a lifetime. Let alone that person being a magical clone of the said girlfriend. How the heck did it come to this?

Luz does feel bad for the copy since it was just mimicking the feeling Amity has. But she cautiously takes a step back from Enmity and chuckles nervously, “Heh… now, you’re not going to pull that uh, ‘If I can’t have you then no one will’ thing… are you?”

Enmity draws out a sigh and shakes its head, “No, I would never hurt you.”

“Oh,” Luz breathes a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness…”

“But,” Enmity tilts her head up with an idea gleaming across its face, “If there is only ONE Amity, you’ll have to settle for me then!”

That don’t sound right. “Say what now?” Luz blankly mutters.

Enmity takes out the mirror from the bag, where the familiar shouting voices can be heard before revealing Amity and King trapped beneath the surface. Luz lets out a horrified gasp.

“Maybe I can’t get away with taking her place,” Enmity says as it keeps a safe distance from Luz. “But if I’m going to inevitably disappear, then I want to spend my last moment with you.”

“Are you crazy!?” Luz shouted, “You think I’m going to date you after what you just did to my friends!?”

Enmity raises the mirror over her head while keeping one hand towards Luz. “I hate to do this to you, Luz, really I do. But even I don’t know what will happen to them if the glass breaks.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Luz waves her arms at her to stop. Despite what she said, there wasn’t a chance Luz was going to take to see if this supposed copy of Amity would be willing to go this far. She withdraws her hands with the bag of hair dye still in her hands behind her back and sighs. “Okay, okay! Fine, I get it! I’ll… I’ll go on this date with you.”

Enmity lets out a squeal before frowning at the sound of Amity beating her fists against the glass in protest, “No, Luz! Don’t listen to it!”

“Are you kidding me?” King shouted at Amity, “Forget your ship! I don’t want to be involved in this dating thing anymore! I just wanted an excuse not to wear that onesie!”

Enmity silences the two by stuffing them back into the bag and zipping it shut. Not the outcome it had preferred but as long as it still gets what it wants in the end. Enmity extends their hand to Luz while keeping the other placed firmly on the bag in case she tries to do anything. “Shall we?” it asks.

Luz stares at the hand for a moment before a forced ‘mhmm’ came out of the clone. “You know, I heard flowers is a classic gift on dates,” said Luz as she takes its hand.

Enmity immediately felt something wet and tacky from Luz’s grip. It looks down and sees her hand covered in some green liquid dripping from her fingers. It dawns on Enmity by what she meant, “Flowers… wait-!”

Luz held tight onto its hand and slaps the plant rune she carefully painted on her back. Large vines sprout out of her back and ravels around to grab the Copy in front of her. Enmity screams and struggles to escape before the plants swallows her into a rose bud while a few vines manage to take the bag from her arm.

Luz jumps up and grabs the bag before making a break for it as her spell won’t last long to contain the clone. She unzips the bag and tosses away the stolen toy she noticed earlier and finds the mirror containing her friends.

“Amity! King! Are you guys alright?” she asks.

“We’re fine! Though King seems to be dealing with some motion sickness,” Amity said while casting a glance at the little guy behind her in a fetal position. “How did you manage to get us back?”

“Oh, you know, doing what I do best.” Luz grins while showing them the stained, green hand of hers. Her eyes wanders back to the bag and notices a small book. “Huh? Is that… a Spanish dictionary?”

“NO!” Amity shouts, “Don’t focus on that! Just find Eda or anyone who could get us out of this!”

Luz, however, is too occupied with the recent discovery and was incredibly touched. “Were you trying to learn Spanish just for me? Aw, Amity, I wouldn’t mind teaching you myself.”

“Can we please get back on track here!?” screamed the tomato head.

Something barrels right into Luz’s legs and knocks her feet out from under her. She desperately tries to keep hold of the mirror, but it slips out and lands face down onto the ground. Amity and King freaks out as a crack splinters right down the middle.

Luz’s head reels for a moment before recognizing the annoying laughter of Boscha who walks right up to her and picks back up the ball she kicked. “Boscha! Seriously, do you have nothing else better to do!?” Luz shouted at her.

“Hey, I came here to have fun.” Boscha shrugs before planting her foot on the mirror, unable to hear the muffled cries coming from it. “It’s that annoying Princess’ fault to begin, after all. Unless she’s willing to come out and play hero, I’ll settle for blowing off some steam with you.”

“Get off of that thing!”

“What, this?” Boscha smirks, “Aw, don’t worry, Luzer. You don’t need a mirror to know how ugly you are.”

There was no point in having an actual fight with someone like Boscha. But seeing her almost breaking the mirror entirely with her foot is enough of an excuse to wipe the floor with her. _Sorry, mom_. Luz said to herself as she prepares to create a magical glyph.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to come to that as they both heard the sound of someone shouting behind them. “Hey! What are you doing!?”

They both see Enmity pushing the attendant of the of Roller Crawler to the ground. It takes the big stick and whacks the creature with it. "Go! Get!" Enmity shouted at it.

The creature just idly sits there and pays no mind to them.

Enmity frowns and looks at the attendant, "What’s wrong with it?"

"Oh, no. You need to jab it, not swing it. You gotta aim at its underbelly."

"Like… this?"

"Yeah, that's it."

Enmity strikes the creature as instructed and sends it in a crazed frenzy. It leaps off the rails and rampages through the busied area. All the people waiting in line screamed and ran for their lives as the creature barrels its way through nearby buildings.

"Was that Amity!? What the heck is that psycho doing?" Boscha shouted.

“Lookout!” Luz tackles Boscha to push her away from a wooden post flown in their direction. Boscha grunts in disgust and kicks her away. “Ugh, get off! I don’t want your human germs on me!”

“I just saved your life!”

“I didn’t ask you for permission, did I?” Boscha barked back.

The audacity of this girl wasn’t worth the effort nor the time for Luz to process. As Boscha decides to make a run for it with a dangerous monster running loose around the area, Luz looks around for the mirror hoping no one stepped on it with all the people trying to get away.

“Luz!” the voices cried for her attention to the object that must have gotten knocked back a few feet from her. Luz sees Enmity charging towards the mirror and breaks into a sprint to beat them to it.

“I got you, guys!” Luz prepares herself to dive towards the mirror and grab it before the clone does. However, Enmity knew it won’t be able to catch up in time and kicks a block of splintered wood and sends it sliding to knock the mirror before Luz’s grasp.

Unfortunately, the knockback was greater than what the clone anticipated as it launches the mirror in the path of the rampaging monster. Luz lets out a terrified scream as the creature shatters the mirror with one of its legs passing through, “NOOO!”

The guilt Enmity felt wasn’t for what happened for King and Amity but for causing despair to Luz. It reaches out for her as Luz buries her head in the ground crying, “No… I-I didn’t mean to… huh?”

A swirl of magical energy rises from each piece of broken glass and gathers in a ball of glowing strands of light. Luz lifts her head up wiping the tears from her eyes and watches in amazement as the strands then splits into two forms. King materializes first and falls unceremoniously to the ground headfirst and shouts, “Ow! Stupid magic!”

“You got to be kidding me!” Enmity shouted incredulously, “What kind of a cursed object releases its victims after getting broken!?

Amity materializes after and drops on top of him, squeezing out the air from his widdle body. “Oof! Oh, come on that was on purpose!” he cries.

“King! Amity!” Luz runs over and pulls them both in for a huge hug. “I’m so glad you guys are okay!”

“Thanks to you,” Amity says while returning the hug. Normally the physical contact would have driven up her anxiety, but it was well deserved for being trapped inside that mirror dimension.

The sight of them hugging it out sends a mixture anger and sadness to the Copy. It knows there isn’t a chance for it to be able to steal Luz away now. It would have to retreat for now.

“And where do you think you’re going?”

Both Enmity and Amity freezes in terror at the voice calling out to them. The Titan must have a sense of humor by sending in help in the worst form possible. A form of two, that is.

“Wow, this scene is quite the pill to swallow, huh Ed?” said Emira.

Edric nods in agreement and scratches his chin, “Yeah… remind me, sis, did we have _two_ little sisters?”

“Aw, Mittens wanted to be like us so bad she went and got her own twin to play with!” Emira then glances between Luz and Amity. The latter tensing up as an evil smile slowly carves onto her face. “And what’s going on in this neck of the woods?”

“Nothing!” Amity hastily pushes Luz away, but accidentally knocks her to the ground. She covers mouth in horror of misjudging her strength as the human lets out a yelp. “I’m fine!” reassured Luz.

Enmity tries sneak off with the twins distracted but Edric was only feigning interest as he suddenly conjures a glyph. A ring appears around the Copy before rising up in dome-like cage, trapping it inside. Emira held up a finger to the girls and says, “Hold that thought,” and walks over to the cage.

“No! You can’t do this! Emira! I-It’s me! That Amity there is the real clone! You have to believe me-!”

“Shush,” Emira draws a glyph and pokes her two fingers through it to sharply jab Enmity on the forehead. The Copy’s form destabilizes like a glitch before dissipating away along with the cage. Illusion dispels usually would seem violent but Emira couldn’t do that to something that looks like her sister. With the Copy gone, Emira blows on her fingers like a smoking gun and turns her attention back to the three.

“Gotta say, for someone who specializes in Abominations like Dad, that was some pretty good work on the clone. Well, for appearance that is. And I doubt either of you were the ones responsible for it.”

“Almost fooled us though, right Em?” Edric playfully elbows her.

Amity frowns at the two, her fears subsiding in place of the anger boiling inside at the realization of what they meant. “You two… _knew_ it was a copy all along!?”

“Duh,” Emira giggles, “We’re both _Illusion_ Track members. You really thought you could pull the wool over our eyes like that?”

“The work was top notch, not gonna lie,” admitted Edric, “But there’s a reason why many people struggle to make copies of others. Personalities are hard to imitate. And judging from how that one acted, it must have only been given enough to do the job but something else must have been added to the batch that made it go crazy.”

“For example,” Emira snakes her way around the two and sticks her head between them. “A strong emotion. One that could’ve been taken to extremes especially if it saw something that made it… _envious_ , perhaps?”

Amity pieces it together herself and realizes that must be why the clone was acting crazy. Because she shocked Gus about her feelings with Luz, it must have influenced his creation of her clone. That or for some reason he genuinely believes she’s crazy about Luz.

Not that any of that matters now since the Twins are now on to them.

“I… don’t know what you’re talking about,” Amity squeaks.

“Oh! Ed, look at her! She’s blushing!” Emira cups her little sister’s cheeks in one hand to show.

Amity flails her arms at her and shouts, “Let me go! It’s not what you think! Luz and I were just hanging out!”

“Y-yeah, nothing weird going on here,” Luz nodded for her sake.

Neither Emira or Edric was buying it as they slyly exchange glances with each other. “Is that so?” Emira teased.

“Yeah, buzz off!” King chimed into their defense. “They were just having their date!”

Luz lets out a surprised gasp as Amity quickly snaps with, “King-!”

Unfortunately, the little demon didn’t get the pep talk about why they were keeping their relationship a secret and thought he was defending them. He continues with, “Luz ripped her heart out and has claimed her for herself fair and square! If you two got a problem with that then you’ll have to fight them for it! Don’t underestimate the power of Amuz!”

The painful embarrassment of Amity’s confession to Luz pales in comparison to having her feelings exposed so… _graphically_ to the twins. Luz seems to have spaced out as she just stands there slowly breathing in and out. Even the twins were given pause by the absurdity of King’s misunderstanding about dating and just stares at the little guy.

“There they are!” The silence was broken by the cry of someone directed at the group. They all turn to see the employees of the amusement park with the attendant of the Crawler Coaster, the slimy man behind the rigged game booth, and the head of the group being the announcer of the eating competition.

“Uh oh,” King mutters.

The upset Announcer looks as if he’s just one prick short of exploding as he takes in the devastation of the area and shakingly raises his bullhorn, “You… kids… are banned for LIFE!” He points at all of them and even the twins, “All of you! BANNED!”

“You can’t ban them!” Amity protested, “This was-this was my fault!”

“Yeah! I even got that free pass for next year’s!” Luz takes out the coupon to show them, only for it to be taken by one of the staff members who proceeded to rip it shreds. She watches the pieces fall to the ground and mutters, “Probably shouldn’t have taken that out…”

“Acts of violence, multiple counts of assault, theft of park’s property, sneaking a pet in.” That one was counting for King. “Not to mention destruction of park’s attractions! If the guards weren’t occupied, I would have all of you arrested!”

The sound of the creature roaring as it passes through drew everyone’s attention to Steve riding on the back of the centipede to pacify it while Robert gets dragged behind with his magic lasso on the end of the monster.

“Now there’s a guy who’s dedicated to his job,” Luz commented.

The group couldn’t do much to argue on their behalf before they were escorted off the premise. At least they all didn’t get into much trouble with them just being minors anyway and King having to reluctantly agree to being a pet to avoid charges. They all find themselves on the other end of the gates being slam shut in their faces with the fair closed for the day.

“Eh,” Edric shrugs, “That place was pretty lame anyway.”

Emira remarks with, “Good going, mittens.”

Amity growls but couldn’t deny her fault for causing this mess. Still, she was pretty annoyed at them. “If you two knew it was a clone all along, then why did either of you step in earlier!?”

“Because we both knew there had to be a reason you would pull that trick on us. We simply played along and tried to keep an eye on you two to know what’s going on,” Edric explained.

“We did lose sight of the copy and you two for a while,” Emira admitted, “But oh man, was it worth it. To think that you two were actually dating!”

Luz and Amity both shoot glares at King. He laughs nervously as he realized he messed up and clears his throat, “Oh man, I uh… better get back to manning the stand! Heh, well, uh… see you guys later!” He makes a run for it as if either of the girls were about to give chase but instead just watches him go.

Maybe Amity should have joined in running away with him, but it would only add fuel to the fire at this point. With no plausible way for the girl to deny the twins’ suspicion, she draws out a heavy sigh and groans. “Okay, you got us… me and Luz are… _”_ she blushes, “… dating…”

Edric presses his cheeks like he just saw the cutest puppy sitting an adoption box, “Ohhh, our little mittens is on a date! And with someone who is totally not lame at all!”

“Tell me about it,” Emira agrees, “I was beginning to worry she was going to date her own Abomination. I guess she really does have good taste after all.”

“Ugh!” Amity growls, “Would you both shut it!? It’s not that big of a deal!”

“Oh, and she’s embarrassed too! How adorable!” Emira ignores her shouting and goes over to Luz. “Don’t think I forgotten about you either,” she says while wrapping her arms around her shoulder. “Look at you stealing our little sister away. No, don’t tell me. Were you just trying to be friends with us so you could get close to Mittens?”

Luz sputters an exhaust pipe, “W-what!? No! I didn’t even know she liked me when-“

“Wait, Mittens was the one doing the chasing? Our little Mittens?” Emira looks to Edric with a fake look of worry on her face, “Oh no, Ed I think we saved the wrong Amity!”

“Just… kill me…” Amity groans. Maybe being trapped in the mirror wasn’t so bad after all.

Edric joins in and wraps his arm around Luz as well, “And to think we let our guard down around you. We let you hang out with us and helped you with Grom, and this is how you repaid us?”

“Oh yeah, Grom!” Emira snaps her fingers, “That must have been where it all started. Dang, I guess that was our fault after all, huh?”

“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with letting our little sister over at her place anymore, sis,” Ed winks at Luz. “Who knows what she’s going to do without our supervision.”

“H-huh!?” Luz swore someone must have turn her legs into jelly without her knowing as it struggles to keep her up. “I-I wouldn’t do anything! We were just having a sleepover-ARE! We are having a sleepover! She’s sleeping in my room but I’m sleeping downstairs on the couch! A new couch! Because we lost our old one during a home invasion and its kind hard on the back, but I don’t mind! When I first came to this world I had to sleep on the floor before Eda manage to find an actual mattress and I don’t know if she bought because every time, I ask she keeps waving it off and blinks at me whenever I mention if there’s a receipt or not and I’m talking too much right now!”

Emira frowns, “Wait, what was that about a home invasion?”

“ _Anyways!_ ” Amity pulls Luz away from the two and held her hand, “Are you both done poking fun at us?”

It was an amusing revelation for the twins, but with all jokes aside they both drop the act and gave Amity a serious look. “None of this wouldn’t have happened if you told us.” Emira asks, “You didn’t think we would rat you out to mom and dad, did you?”

“Of course not, it’s just…” Amity shakes her head, “I knew you both were going to be like this, so I didn’t want you to know. And you’re right… I let that worry me and created this mess. I’m sorry for not telling you guys and for getting you roped into this.”

“Aww, as if we could stay mad at our little baby sister,” cooed Edric.

“Especially when she’s in loooove!” Emira mocked.

And there it is again. Any ounce of guilt went out the window as Amity starts going red with rage. Luz recognizes this and takes her hands up to her cheeks like before saying, “No, Amity! Remember what we talked about? Just let me take it away from you and-owowowow! You’re squeezing my face!”

The twins laugh watching Amity squeezing the life out of Luz in blind rage. If only there was some way to get rid of them and have them stop making fun of them. If only there was a way for Amity to have the last laugh of them.

And perhaps the Titan was a kind being indeed, as someone calls out to one of the twins. “Emira? Is that you?”

It was as if someone just hit the pause button on her. Edric frowns at his twin sister’s reaction and turns around to whoever called out for her. “Oh, hey it’s Viney!”

“Sup, guys!” Viney walks up to the group and looks over to Luz and gasps, “Luz!? I didn’t see you there! How’s it going?”

Luz beams at her fellow detention track member and waves, “Hi, Viney!”

Emira snaps out of her state and glances between the two, “You two know each other…?”

“Heck yeah! She’s the reason I get to take two of my favorite tracks at school,” Viney said while giving Luz a playful noogie. “Didn’t think I would get to see both of my favorite girls hanging out together.”

“Haha… favorite,” Emira giggles nervously. Amity seems to be the only one who noticed the strange response as everyone seem to have shifted topic.

“Were you planning to hit the fair?” Edric said pointing at the closed gates behind them.

“Yeah but looks like they’re closed. Guess something must have happened. It’s no biggie, I was just going to have a look anyway. What’s new with you guys?” Viney asks Luz.

“Oh, me and Amity are on a date,” Luz announced.

“Oh wow, really? With Emira’s sister? What a small world this is, huh?” Viney directed to Emira who only giggles and nods with a quiet, “Yeah… small world…”

“As much as I love to stay and chat, I gotta get going. Me and Barcus were helping out Jerbo with his parent’s shop. I was just taking a small break, why don’t you guys come over? We’re making funnel cakes.”

“Ooh! I love funnel cakes!” Luz chimes.

“Haha… funnel cakes…” said the green recorder.

“See you guys next time! Bye Emira!” Viney waves at the blushing girl and heads out.

Emira timidly waves at her goodbye before slowly feeling the eyes of a certain relative burning holes into her back. She turns around to see Amity giving her a mischievous smile while the others remain oblivious to what was going on.

“Crazy to run into her of all people, huh?” Edric said to his twin sister.

“Yeah,” Amity nods, “Crazy isn’t it, Emira?”

“Well, it’s great to see you again Luz, but we got to go!” Emira hurriedly grabs Edric by the arm and pulls him away.

“We’re just going to leave them? But I just thought of another quip to say-ow!” the brother protested before letting out a painful gasp as Emira tightens her grip on his arm. “Ow, ow, okay! I’m going!”

Amity silently revels in her victory and watches them leave as Luz, confused by their sudden reaction, waves them goodbye.

“What just… happened?” she asks.

“Karma, Luz.” Amity grins, “Sweet, karma.”

“Ooh, caramel’s great on a funnel cake.”

Amity sighs, “Quit being so cute.”


End file.
